Short but interesting video of Multiverse CEO Bill Turpin’s presentation at Demo ’06 (Link). He discusses the one-size-fits-all MMORPG platform I posted about earlier (Link) and he and his associate demo/discuss a couple of tools they intend to provide to the 2200 developers who’ve signed up since their beta registration opened.

The talk doesn’t shed any new light, but one interesting thing he emphasized towards the end got my attention:

But just remember, the tools and technologies are just an enabler. Multiverse Network is actually a media company based on a media business model that includes advertising revenue and commerce transactions.

Too bad they’re not doing what I’d like to see happen: creating a unified 3D format that transcends both videogames and manufacturing. (see relevant posts: Link 1 and Link 2). At least that way there could be two distinct options: purely virtual (like we have now with games like World of Warcraft) and those that merge real and virtual. As evidenced by his own example, there’s plenty of money in subscription models. His comments and the platform’s limitation suggest an emphasis on embedded advertising in otherwise only virtual space to support this business.

Personally, I’d rather see Multiverse in its current form as being subscription model only and a new system, like the one that bridges the real and the virtual (how about calling it “Transverse”!) and which I often discuss here, could be the “media company” platform for advertising and commerce. It’d be like television: some is by subscription and some uses advertising revenue. Seems like that dual mode works better online than in meatspace.

To be fair, there appear to be some options with Multiverse, so maybe it won’t be so bad.

{Image source: Demo}