In 2006, Club Penguin wasn’t as big as it is today. Today, with the explosion of the number of virtual world sites, market acceptance of virtual goods sales, and Facebook social games, Fantage believes that the market has grown about tenfold, if not more. When it started in 2007, the online free-to-play market was estimated to be around $30 million. The company counted 14 new virtual worlds in 2008 and about 9 more in 2009.
Since 2007, Fantage seen quite an explosion in virtual world sites. They met Frank, a friend of Cindy’s, in early 2007 and the four of them started to build. They spent the night discussing the kid’s online game idea, quit their old jobs next morning, and started to design their own virtual world. Bae was still involved in startup businesses and knew more about current IT technologies. In the summer of 2006, Hwang visited Peter Bae, his business school buddy, and they talked about the game idea again. The Hwangs hoped to develop an online virtual playground for their daughter and her friends, but they assumed it was very difficult and expensive to do. She missed her friends from Silicon Valley and wanted play dates with them. Hwang and his wife Cindy had a problem with their first child, Alyssa, who was then three years old. In early 2002, cofounder David Hwang started a new business on the East Coast, and his family moved from California. The site offers “towns” to explore through a user’s avatar, games to play, and ways to chat safely and meet new friends. Developed as a flash game, this virtual playground requires no download. Fantage (short for “Fantastic Age”) is a virtual world created specifically for young computer users from about age 6 to age 14 but is accessible to everyone.
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