MindArk, Planets, Planet Partners, Studios, ... the whole mess

It can be really hard to look through the mess and get a glimpse of the relationships of those parties. So I thought I create a thread and ask you for the information you have.​

To make a start:​

Planet Calypso​

- first developed and owned by MindArk​

- MindArk spinned off First Planet Company as a Planet Partner and development studio for planet Calypso​

- SEE Virtual Worlds (almost) bought Calypso and First Planet Company from MindArk and renamed First Planet Company to SEE Digital Studios​

- Marco Behrmann, SEE Digital Studios Managing Director, held/holds shares in MindArk (other SEE guys too?)​

- Planet Calypso (and SEE Digital Studios/First Planet Company???) dropped back to MindArk, no confirmed reasons for that​

- parts of the staff of SEE Digital Studios have left/have been fired incl. Creative Director Andreas Roman (June 2011), Community Manager Hanne Gulbrandsen (June??? 2011), Producer Christian Nyberg (April 211 (well, he just joined in March...))​

ROCKtropia​

- Planet Partner is NEVERDIE in the one form or the other​

- development studio is NEVERDIE Studios​

- NEVERDIE (via Golden Shadow Pictures) held and might still hold 0.36% of MindArks shares too​

Next Island​

- Planet Partner is David Post/Next Island llc​

- Qestion: Is was ND also a investor in NI/NI llc​

- development studio was NEVERDIE Studios (have they been dismissed?)​

- part of the deal between Next Island llc and NEVERDIE Studios was a huge estate with all kinds of delicacies to be owned by NEVERDIE​

- after parting with NEVERDIE Studios Next Island llc claims to build Next Island in-house​

- Very interesting: several First Planet Company/SEE Digital Studios employees claim they have worked on Next Island too​

Plant Arkadia​

- Planet Partner and development studio are Arkadia Studios​

- Arkadia Studios CEO David Dobson was a regular Entropia Universe participants for a several years​

- Treasure Island (and other estates) owner Deathifier is also a investor in Planet Arkadia​

- personal note: to me Arkadia looks like the first launched planet independent from the old MA/FPC/ND buddy network and cronyism​

SEE Planets (Planet Michael, Universal Monsters/Van Helsing Planet)​

- planet partner is/was SEE Virtual Worlds​

- first to be developed by NEVERDIE Studios, probably they NEVER touched those planets​

- development carried out by First Planet Company then renamed to SEE Digital Studios​

- situation currently unclear since MA and SEE Virtual Worlds have abandoned their relationship​

- 16 Aug 2011: statement by SEE that Planet Michael will not be part of EU but will be launched in 2012​

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Ok, all those other planets (as well as the mentioned Planet Arkdia) don't seem to be part of the mess:​

Planet Cyrene​

- planet partner: Creative Kingdom​

- development studio: Digital Scryers​

Theryon Wars​

- Planet Partner & development studio: Spaniard Blend​

Arabian Planet​

- Planet Partner & development studio: Beladcom​

Chinese Planet/Dotman 2nd Earth​

- Planet Partner & developer: CRD​

- not being developed anymore, at least not to become a part of EU​

Planet Postmoderna​

- not an official planet, no planet partner agreement and not aiming for it anymore​

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That's it for now. If anything of the above is wrong please comment. And please bring further facts, speculations, questions, etc.​

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Didn't include them (yet) as they not seem to be part of the 'mess', meaning the web of relationships of MA/PPs/Studios/Participants. I'll do that asap. Done!

 

Well, that's really obscure. Officially he was an unpaid freelance promoter. While 'unpaid' might be open to interpretation since he probably didn't have to pay flights, hotels, expenses when he went to exhibitions and such.

Any sources?

He's still listed on the SEE VW website as well.

 

With ND being a shareholder of MindArk and going to conferences with paying professionals attendees only as well as going to the NASA MMO Workshop potential developers of the NASA MMOG (together with Marco, MA's CIO and Christian, MA's "Director of Special Projects, handling contacts with governments, universities and global corporations") one would have to think ND had/has closer ties to MA than the 'common' fan ambassador at a booth on a games fair has. One would also have to think that on business meetings information might be dealt that the regular participants has no access to.

Probably not contracted employee status but at least some kind of affiliation the regular participant does not have.