August 10^th, 2006 (9:34pm) - Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) has announced that it has acquired key assets of Worlds Apart Productions, an independent developer of online trading card games.

Key employees of Worlds Apart will form the core of the new SOE-Denver, integrating into SOE’s worldwide group of studios including San Diego, Seattle, Austin, and Taiwan. The acquisition aims to strengthen SOE’s position in the online gaming space.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Worlds Apart Productions has been building and operating online games for 10 years. Specializing in online digital property games and role-playing games, Worlds Apart is the developer of Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga.

The company’s Collect! Trade! Play! (CTP) Platform is a cost-effective infrastructure for the development of online collectible-object based games. It offers a modular, data-driven development and prototyping environment, as well as rapid time-to-market for full commercial releases. Worlds Apart uses CTP as the foundation for the translation of paper trading card games to online form, as well as for the creation of original properties.

SOE-Denver’s core technologies have the potentia to integrate board or card games into existing SOE online games, as well as the creation of new games altogether. SOE live game development teams will begin meeting with SOE-Denver to be introduced to their technology and begin exploring ways to integrate this valuable resource into SOE games.

The Worlds Apart Productions brand may continue to be utilized by SOE in future releases.