The latest to jump on the Habbo bandwagon is “Twilight.” The four books in the series have sold 70 million copies worldwide, and the first movie, produced by Summit Entertainment, generated $400 million in box office sales last year.
Habbo creates Twilight space for virtual vampires
September 2, 2009Seventeen, Habbo Partner for Virtual World Deal
June 10, 2009Seventeen magazine has launched its second foray into the virtual world through a partnership with Habbo.com, an online community where teens can create avatars, chat with friends and join in activities. The Hearst Magazines title will provide Habbo with articles from its site and quizzes, polls, advice and other content created by its editors.
NBC teams with Habbo to create a new virtual “Heroes” character
January 28, 2009NBC.com and Habbo, announced the launch of a new, virtual ‘Heroes’ character, which was created by Habbo and will live on Habbo.com and ‘Heroes’ Evolutions, the on-air show’s interactive Web site. While following directions from a mysterious virtual messenger, the new character will take the audience on an adventure as she discovers the history of ‘Heroes’ through a journey that travels back and forth between Habbo.com and the ‘Heroes’ Evolutions site.
IMVU Closes $10 Million Financing Led by Best Buy Capital
January 22, 2009IMVU Inc. announced it has closed a $10 million round of Series D funding led by Best Buy Capital, Best Buy’s corporate venture-capital group, and joined by existing investors Menlo Ventures, Allegis Capital and Bridgescale Partners. IMVU will use the funds to invest in continued development of its 3D virtual community, which has grown to more than 30 million registrations around the use of personalized online 3D characters, called avatars, to meet new people from around the world.
PC Virtual World Habbo Hotel Has Nearly 1 Million Mobile Users
November 25, 2008The mobile version of Habbo Hotel, has registered almost a million users with almost no marketing, VentureBeat reports. Mini which is the mobile counterpart to Habbo Hotel, is an example of a site that’s been able to crossover to mobile, without being held back by all of the hoops typically associated with re-purposing online content for mobile phones. What’s particularly fascinating about Mini Friday’s growth rate is the fact that the application is restricted to users 18 and older, it requires a download and registration, and it only runs on some Nokia S60 phones.
Habbo Hits 100 Million Avatars
June 28, 2008Habbo, announced the creation of its 100 millionth animated avatar. Owned by Finish Company Sulake, the site launched in 2000 and has steadily grown to attract close to 10 million monthly visitors worldwide. The 100 millionth avatar, also known as a Habbo, was created by a user in the U.K., who will receive special virtual prizes, including a tailor-made Habbo room with some extremely rare items, as well as a wealth of Habbo coins and a brand-new MacBook Air laptop computer.
WMA joins Habbo’s world
February 6, 2008Virtual world Habbo has signed with WMA to help create strategic partnerships for the Finland-based company. Habbo hopes WMA will help bring movie, TV, sports and music celebrities to the teen-centric virtual community as well as establish other key relationships.
Movie Licensing Goes Virtual With Habbo-Paramount Deal
January 29, 2008Paramount Pictures and Habbo, may have just struck the first such deal. Habbo says it has 1.8 million members in North America, which is the area covered by the deal. It will be a long time before virtual merchandise licensing comes close to matching the revenues from real-world licensing (typically, each item costs less than $1), but for Paramount the money is almost a secondary consideration.
