Disney (NYSE: DIS) CEO Bob Iger used the corporately correct equivalent of ‘take the needle out of your arm’ when an analyst on today’s earnings call expressed dismay that the Disney Interactive Media Group wasn’t close to break even yet: “We didn’t specify that we’d get toward break even. I…

Next month’s Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies animated film Rango will be the first to get released day and date with its own companion massively multiplayer online game.

With the still rising popularity of social media games like Zynga’s Farmville and Mafia Wars, advertising is naturally beginning to follow. But at least for the next few years, despite a major growth spurt, ad dollars will continue to lag virtual goods when it comes to making money in the…

More management upheaval at Second Life-parent Linden Lab: Founder Philip Rosedale, who took over as interim CEO after Mark Kingdon stepped down in June, says he’s leaving the post. Bob Komin, the company’s CFO and COO, will take over temporarily, while Linden Lab searches for a replacement.

Sulake, the Finnish maker of the Habbo virtual world, says it recorded its best first-half-of-year revenue this year - an improvement from 2009, when its income declined.

Metaplace, a social games startup which switched strategies earlier this year after its first business failed, has been purchased by Playdom. Initially intended to be a place where people could build their own virtual worlds, Metaplace shut down that service six months ago saying it wasn’t gaining enough traction and…

Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon has resigned two weeks after the Second Life parent cut 30 percent of its staff. Kingdon was a big name hire for the company when he was brought on two years ago to replace founder Philip Rosedale; he had previously been the CEO of Omnicom…

Linden Lab, which has maintained a big following for its Second Life virtual world but also has seen it surpassed in buzz and growth by a host of other gaming and social sites, is cutting 30 percent of its staff as part of a restructuring. Linden Lab says in a…

A possible picture of the broad state of the virtual goods industry, which is primarily made up of players who keep their financial results close: Sulake, the parent company of virtual world for teens Habbo Hotel, released its results, which show a significant upturn in revenue during the first quarter…

Kids’ virtual world Club Penguin may have helped boost Disney’s digital revenues with its higher subscription revenues, but according to the company’s 10k filing, the unit failed to meet earnings targets set when it was acquired in August 2007.

San Francisco-based Boku has raised a sizable round of funding totaling $25 million to build a mobile-payments company that they believe can one day compete against financial institutions, like Mastercard, Visa, and even online providers, like Paypal. The year-old company has partnered with wireless carriers around the world to let…

Metaplace, the virtual worlds development firm founded by former Sony (NYSE: SNE) Online execs, is shutting down. The company’s plan was to make it easy for people to create their own web-based virtual worlds, and then serve as the central hub from where players could access them all. It raised…

Virtual goods and micro-transactions have been driving the billion-dollar online games industry across Asia for years. And deals like EA’s $400 million buyout of social gamer Playfish, and Activision’s new virtual pets addition to World of Warcraft, show that virtual currencies have now evolved into a viable business model for…

Social gamer Zynga has acquired GoPets, a gaming company that lets people create and train virtual pets, according to Virtual Goods News. We’ve reached out to Zynga for confirmation. The deal adds a desktop-based game that’s not tethered to any specific social network to Zynga’s roster, as users can download…

Online games and payments platform PlaySpan has signed on another large partner: Nickelodeon Kids and Family Virtual Worlds Group. PlaySpan’s technology will power virtual transactions for Neopets, the beta Petpet Park, and the two worlds Nick currently has in development, World of Neopia and Monkey World. Kids (and their parents)…

Another add-on aimed at keeping MySpace’s loyal users engaged and away from Facebook: The social network is integrating teen-centric virtual world Meez into its platform, giving members the ability to create avatars, play games and party together in a 3D-virtual environment. Meez Nation runs in Java, so MySpace users can…

Unisfair, a virtual events company, has raised $3.1 million of a proposed $9.3 million second round of funding, per an SEC filing. Unisfair raised $10 million last year from Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and BCS Growth Fund Israel. There were no new investors listed on the latest filing; the…

Mobile and social entertainment company Digital Chocolate wants in on the virtual goods boom—so it’s launching NanoStars, a new game project that revolves around a set of over 100 virtual “characters” that players can buy and use in multiple games. The characters, which will be named after various pop culture…

It’s not unusual for clothing brands to promote their outfits in virtual worlds, but designer Norma Kamali is going one step further: She’s actually selling her new clothing line there. Members of fashion-centric virtual world Roiworld.com can try on outfits from the Norma Kamali for Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) Spring 2010…