{{Short description|Software company in Canada}} {{infobox company | logo = Ludicorp logo.gif | name = Ludicorp | type = [[Privately held company|Private]] | industry = Software development | founded = {{start date and age|2002}} | founder = [[Stewart Butterfield]], [[Caterina Fake]] and Jason Classon | hq_location_city = [[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia]], Canada | products = | website = }} '''Ludicorp''' was a company based in [[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia]], Canada, that created [[Flickr]] and Game Neverending.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2008/04/02/game-neverending-rises-from-the-dead/ |title=Game Neverending Rises From The Dead |date=April 2, 2008 |website=Tech Crunch}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13830206/smugmug-acquires-flickr-promises-to-keep-community-alive |title=SmugMug Acquires Flickr, Promises to Keep Community Alive |date=Apr 23, 2018 |website=KQED}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/1043750/flickr.html |title=Yahoo acquires Flickr photo sharing service |date=Mar 21, 2005 |website=Macworld}}</ref> It was founded in 2002 by [[Stewart Butterfield]], [[Caterina Fake]] and Jason Classon and was bought by [[Yahoo!]] on March 20, 2005.<ref name="founders-at-work">{{cite book |title= Founders at Work |last= Livingston |first= Jessica |year= 2007 |publisher= Apress |isbn= 978-1590597149 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/foundersatworkst00livi }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111136815551984786 |title=Yahoo Acquires Flickr Creator |website=Wall Street Journal |date=March 20, 2005}}</ref>
== History ==
=== Background === Stewart Butterfield, a founder of Ludicorp, earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1996 from the [[University of Victoria]] and then went on to earn master's degrees in philosophy and in history from the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Hembroth |first1=M |last2=Hartmans |first2=A |date=December 4, 2020 |title=The life and career of Stewart Butterfield, the Flickr cofounder and Slack CEO who just sold his company to Salesforce for $27.7 billion |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-life-of-slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-2015-9 |website=Business Insider}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Welch |first=J |date=2021 |title=Success beyond STEM: an analysis of educational background of the Fortune 50 CEOs. |url=https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-02-2020-0018 |journal=Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=557–575|doi=10.1108/HESWBL-02-2020-0018 |s2cid=225426350 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Butterfield says his choice in degree, although uncommon for a [[Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics|STEM]] CEO, has benefited him in management and running businesses.<ref name=":1" /> He then became a part of Jason Classon's start up business Gradfinder.com, which they would end up selling.<ref name=":0" />
Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield met as web designers living in [[San Francisco]] and Vancouver respectively when they met.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> Fake moved to Vancouver and the two got married, starting Ludicorp with Classon, just after their honeymoon.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> Fake says that the inspiration for the name Ludicorp came from the Latin word ludus, meaning play, as they were working on an online game, Game Neverending.<ref name="founders-at-work" />
=== Development of Game Neverending === Shortly following Ludicorp's founding, Butterfield, Classon and Fake began working on Game Neverending.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> According to Fake “[She] did the game design, Stewart did the [[interaction design]] and Jason did the [[PHP]] for the prototype.”<ref name="founders-at-work" /> During the time they were developing Game Neverending, Ludicorp were able to secure a government loan and began to break even shortly later.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> Fake expressed how raising funds for Flickr however was difficult as it was a new concept, including many new features in the new social media market.<ref name="founders-at-work" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |last=Honan |first=M |date=2014 |title=The Most Fascinating Profile You'll Ever Read About a Guy and His Boring Startup. |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/08/the-most-fascinating-profile-youll-ever-read-about-a-guy-and-his-boring-startup/ |magazine=Wired}}</ref>
According to Fake, “[[Neopets Trading Card Game|Neopets]] was one of the inspirations for Game Neverending,” a game where online multiplayer interaction was available.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> It was meant to be a game that would not end, and there was no concept of winning or losing in it.<ref name=":2" /> Game Neverending was finished and released in 2002.<ref>{{Cite news |last=The Economist |date=2016 |title=Office connection; the Slack generation |url=https://www.economist.com/business/2016/05/14/the-slack-generation |newspaper=The Economist |volume=419 |pages=53–54}}</ref> Game Neverending eventually became Ludicorp's major project, Flickr.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=The Week |date=2017 |title=City Profiles |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2054110009 |journal=The Week |volume=44|id={{ProQuest|2054110009}} }}</ref>
=== Development of Flickr === Game Neverending contained a feature which would allow players to communicate and share photographs with each other.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> However, all the technical features used to create this function were also the fundamental features of Flickr.<ref name=":2" /> After Game Neverending became a financial failure, the Ludicorp executives decided to drop that project and pursue Flickr, as it was beginning to gain financial success in 2004.<ref name="founders-at-work" />
Flickr's first version was built in 8 weeks using the technology and software from Game Neverending.<ref name="founders-at-work" /> It was a social networking site, allowing users to post and share pictures they had taken, without any help from professional companies.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Zeng |first1=X |last2=Wei |first2=L |date=2013 |title=Social ties and user content generation: evidence from Flickr |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42004270 |journal=Information Systems Research |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=71–87|doi=10.1287/isre.1120.0464 |jstor=42004270 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Its fast growth was pushed by the increasing popularity of social networking sites, such as [[YouTube]], and the increasing availability of smartphones with built in cameras.<ref name="founders-at-work" /><ref name=":3" />
Although many users were professional photographers, Flickr was aimed at those who found photography as a hobby.<ref name=":3" /> Ludicorp created Flickr in a way that it filled a hole in the market; other competitors did not allow bloggers to post pictures.<ref name=":2" /> Ludicorp also added many first ever features in Flickr, such as “authing in,” being able to change the amount of information you share with your friends and activity streams.<ref name=":2" />
Ludicorp also designed Flickr to be more focused on content, rather than as a social interaction site, unlike a platform such as [[Facebook]].<ref name=":3" /> Users can follow other users in a non-mutual subscription model, like YouTube.<ref name=":3" /> Furthermore, content can be viewed without the subscription, another first for social media sites in 2004.<ref name=":3" /> At that time, publicly viewable content was not a feature on other social media platforms.<ref name="founders-at-work" />
By the end of 2004 Flickr was worth approximately US$25 million.<ref name=":2" /> This led to Yahoo! becoming interested in acquiring Ludicorp.<ref name="founders-at-work" />
=== Acquisition by Yahoo! === At the end of 2004, Butterfield, Fake and Classon sold Ludicorp to Yahoo!.<ref name=":2" /> Following the acquisition, Fake and Classon left, with Butterfield following two years later in 2007 after having his second child and divorcing from Fake.<ref name=":2" /> In a memoir he sent to [[Brad Garlinghouse]], announcing his resignation he said he felt “sidelined” by Yahoo! and did not have as much of a say in his company anymore.<ref name=":2" />
In the years that Yahoo! owned Ludicorp, its main product Flickr peaked and then began to decline, with other social media networks taking over,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Tiffany |first=K |date=2019 |title=Flickr will soon start deleting photos — and massive chunks of internet history. |url=https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/6/18214046/flickr-free-storage-ends-digital-photo-archive-history |website=Vox}}</ref> such as [[Instagram]] and [[Snapchat]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Frommer |first=D |date=2018 |title=Flickr has been sold after 13 years at Yahoo. Can Flickr be relevant again? |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/4/20/17264274/flickr-smugmug-yahoo-oath-verizon-deal-photo-sharing-service-mobile-instagram |website=Recode}}</ref> Yahoo! did not focus on the development of Flickr and it became unprofitable for Ludicorp and Yahoo!.<ref name=":5" /> Yahoo! sold Flickr to [[SmugMug]],<ref name=":4" /> causing Ludicorp to lose its main product.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.ludicorp.com|date=*|title=Ludicorp}}
[[Category:Canadian companies established in 2002]] [[Category:Software companies established in 2002]] [[Category:2002 establishments in British Columbia]] [[Category:Software companies of Canada]] [[Category:Yahoo! acquisitions]] [[Category:Companies based in Vancouver]] [[Category:2005 mergers and acquisitions]]