Spooky, secretive, titanic US military contractor SAIC has bought out Forterra, a company that makes virtual worlds for government agencies. I sat on a panel at an SAIC event on games and public diplomacy a few years back that turned out to be filled with CIA and other spooks who wanted to know if Al Qaeda was recruiting in World of Warcraft. Wonder what they're going to do with World of Fedcraft?
This is a significant move. Forterra, while not as expansive as Second Life commercially, focused on a very specific virtual worlds niche: Closed virtual world platforms for government. So much of government, because of the attendant needs of a bureaucracy to create a sense control around information, requires closed technology systems in order to function and to create a sense of security around their many classified research and training exercises. Forterra offered that. (Second Life now offers this through their Second Life Enterprise client, focused mainly in businesses.)
SAIC Acquires Virtual World Company, Forterra Inc
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