Nick Announces Plans for More Virtual Worlds

NEW YORK, April 4:
Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group has unveiled plans to develop and
produce additional virtual worlds, following the success of its Neopets and
Nicktropolis sites, beginning with one for SpongeBob SquarePants.

A virtual world based on SpongeBob as well as new original properties like Monkey
World (working title) are being put into development. In addition, a new
virtual destination, World of Neopia (working title), is in production and
expected to launch in the next year.

The sites will be
developed out of Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group's Virtual World Studios
(formerly titled NeoStudios and announced in July 2007), which will develop
virtual destinations for kids, tweens, teens and families each year.

"For our audiences,
virtual worlds are the convergence of gaming, entertainment and community
online, and by announcing these new worlds, we are ensuring that our content
pipeline is going to remain fresh and vibrant," said Steve Youngwood, the
executive VP of digital media at the company. "We are very fortunate to
have a digital production studio that, like our linear animation studio in
Burbank, will be dedicated to creating great new content experiences for our
audiences both with our existing brands and properties and new, original
ones."

World of Neopia will build
upon the Neopets meta-game and its existing play patterns, and enhance those
experiences in a graphical, in-world environment easily accessible online. The
multi-player site geared toward tweens will include games, a community,
in-world chat, and customization, among other activities. "World of Neopia
will provide our loyal fans with greater interactivity and connection to the
Neopets they love, and will attract a whole new generation of users," said
Kyra Reppen, the senior VP and general manager of Neopets. "We're taking
the core fundamentals of Neopets: the game play; the deep, engaging
experiences; and the community, and bringing those to life in a more
interactive, rich experience."

Additionally, over the
next few months, Nicktropolis will add new environments such as a comic book
store, a pirate ship-themed area and another centered on the new Nickelodeon
series The Mighty B, from
co-creators Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live), Cynthia True (The Fairly OddParents) and Emmy and Annie-nominated storyboard artist
and writer Erik Wiese. A regionalized version of Nicktropolis will also launch
in the U.K. in April.

—By Mansha Daswani