Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues Assets Acquired by Catnip Games
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It's not entirely clear what's going on with Richard Garriott's Ultima Online-inspired MMORPG Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues at the moment, but according to this official forums post, Portalarium's operating assets, or in other words Shroud of the Avatar, have been acquired by Catnip Games, a company established by Portalarium's CTO Chris Spears. Here's the official statement itself:
As of October 2019 Austin-based production studio Catnip Games has acquired the operating assets of Portalarium, Inc.; primary of which is Shroud of the Avatar.
Portalarium was co-founded in 2009 by Hall of Fame videogame designer Richard Garriott (aka “Lord British”). Portalarium’s most recent game Shroud of the Avatar has a large global community of players which Catnip Games will continue to develop and expand.
Catnip Games was established by Chris Spears, who served as CTO of Portalarium for over 6 years and was appointed President of Portalarium in 2019.
Commenting about the acquisition, Richard Garriott noted “We’re immensely grateful to the community who has built this game with us. The community’s support and participation remains strong and growing, and Starr and I plan to continue being involved in the community and within the game.”
Starr Long, the executive producer of Shroud of the Avatar, also commented on the acquisition; noting that “Chris has successfully led the design and the team for many years, he is an all-star A player.”
Chris Spears added that “The development team remains with the project, and we plan to continue with the established patterns of regular releases, frequent live broadcasts, community events, release parties, and a development cadence focused on both constantly improving the core game, while also working towards Episode 2.”
Lowenstein Sandler provided legal counsel to Portalarium on this transaction. Deal terms were not disclosed. Any questions about the transaction should be directed to VLPC at tbailey[at]vlpc.com.
