Linden Lab, the parent company of Second Life, is faring very well financially despite the recent downturn in the economy, according to a senior executive at the company.

Ginsu Yoon, Linden Lab's VP of Business Affairs, told The Industry Standard last week that the company has been able to hire approximately 100 new employees in the last year, and has not raised any new financing. Yoon added that Second Life has had its "highest numbers ever" in terms of active users, in-world hours, and revenue.

"We're a larger company now," Yoon said. "I think we grew probably 100 employees over the last year. I think we started the year with somewhere in the high 100s, close to 200, and now we're close to 300."

When asked whether revenue or additional investment had enabled the wave of new hires, Yoon said, "We have not raised any financing since the last time it was publicly reported. In terms of profitability, I don't want to go beyond what our fact sheet says. Our situation is very good."

As for concerns about the current economic crisis, Yoon suggested that Second Life was an attractive entertainment option for many people concerned about keeping personal expenditures down.

"There are all sorts of theories about why online gaming or other online activities have more recession-proof characteristics [such as] it drives more entertainment value, high-usage value for your dollar. And if you compare the cost of 10 or 20 dollars spent in a month, and compare that to the number of movies, you only get four hours watching two movies. As you know, you can be in Second Life for hours and hours without paying anything."

However, he was cautious about future trends. "I wouldn't, with one month of data in the current financial crisis, I wouldn't go so far as to say 'oh yeah, it's a recession-proof business.'"

Sources cited, referenced, or consulted: Ginsu Yoon, Lindenlab.com, Secondlife.com, New World Notes (nwn.blogs.com), Chris Ulbrich/Lewis PR.

Photo: Ian Lamont