# Ludicorp

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Software company in Canada

Ludicorp Type Private Industry Software development Founded 2002; 24 years ago (2002) Founder Stewart Butterfield, Caterina Fake and Jason Classon Headquarters Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

**Ludicorp** was a company based in [Vancouver, British Columbia](/source/Vancouver), Canada, that created [Flickr](/source/Flickr) and Game Neverending.[1][2][3] It was founded in 2002 by [Stewart Butterfield](/source/Stewart_Butterfield), [Caterina Fake](/source/Caterina_Fake) and Jason Classon and was bought by [Yahoo!](/source/Yahoo!) on March 20, 2005.[4][5]

## History

### Background

Stewart Butterfield, a founder of Ludicorp, earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1996 from the [University of Victoria](/source/University_of_Victoria) and then went on to earn master's degrees in philosophy and in history from the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge).[6][7] Butterfield says his choice in degree, although uncommon for a [STEM](/source/Science%2C_technology%2C_engineering%2C_and_mathematics) CEO, has benefited him in management and running businesses.[7] He then became a part of Jason Classon's start up business Gradfinder.com, which they would end up selling.[6]

Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield met as web designers living in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) and Vancouver respectively when they met.[4] Fake moved to Vancouver and the two got married, starting Ludicorp with Classon, just after their honeymoon.[4] 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.[4]

### Development of Game Neverending

Shortly following Ludicorp's founding, Butterfield, Classon and Fake began working on Game Neverending.[4] According to Fake “[She] did the game design, Stewart did the [interaction design](/source/Interaction_design) and Jason did the [PHP](/source/PHP) for the prototype.”[4] During the time they were developing Game Neverending, Ludicorp were able to secure a government loan and began to break even shortly later.[4] 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.[4][8]

According to Fake, “[Neopets](/source/Neopets_Trading_Card_Game) was one of the inspirations for Game Neverending,” a game where online multiplayer interaction was available.[4] It was meant to be a game that would not end, and there was no concept of winning or losing in it.[8] Game Neverending was finished and released in 2002.[9] Game Neverending eventually became Ludicorp's major project, Flickr.[10]

### Development of Flickr

Game Neverending contained a feature which would allow players to communicate and share photographs with each other.[4] However, all the technical features used to create this function were also the fundamental features of Flickr.[8] 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.[4]

Flickr's first version was built in 8 weeks using the technology and software from Game Neverending.[4] It was a social networking site, allowing users to post and share pictures they had taken, without any help from professional companies.[11] Its fast growth was pushed by the increasing popularity of social networking sites, such as [YouTube](/source/YouTube), and the increasing availability of smartphones with built in cameras.[4][11]

Although many users were professional photographers, Flickr was aimed at those who found photography as a hobby.[11] Ludicorp created Flickr in a way that it filled a hole in the market; other competitors did not allow bloggers to post pictures.[8] 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.[8]

Ludicorp also designed Flickr to be more focused on content, rather than as a social interaction site, unlike a platform such as [Facebook](/source/Facebook).[11] Users can follow other users in a non-mutual subscription model, like YouTube.[11] Furthermore, content can be viewed without the subscription, another first for social media sites in 2004.[11] At that time, publicly viewable content was not a feature on other social media platforms.[4]

By the end of 2004 Flickr was worth approximately US$25 million.[8] This led to Yahoo! becoming interested in acquiring Ludicorp.[4]

### Acquisition by Yahoo!

At the end of 2004, Butterfield, Fake and Classon sold Ludicorp to Yahoo!.[8] Following the acquisition, Fake and Classon left, with Butterfield following two years later in 2007 after having his second child and divorcing from Fake.[8] In a memoir he sent to [Brad Garlinghouse](/source/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.[8]

In the years that Yahoo! owned Ludicorp, its main product Flickr peaked and then began to decline, with other social media networks taking over,[12] such as [Instagram](/source/Instagram) and [Snapchat](/source/Snapchat).[13] Yahoo! did not focus on the development of Flickr and it became unprofitable for Ludicorp and Yahoo!.[12] Yahoo! sold Flickr to [SmugMug](/source/SmugMug),[13] causing Ludicorp to lose its main product.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Game Neverending Rises From The Dead"](https://techcrunch.com/2008/04/02/game-neverending-rises-from-the-dead/). *Tech Crunch*. April 2, 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["SmugMug Acquires Flickr, Promises to Keep Community Alive"](https://www.kqed.org/arts/13830206/smugmug-acquires-flickr-promises-to-keep-community-alive). *KQED*. Apr 23, 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Yahoo acquires Flickr photo sharing service"](https://www.macworld.com/article/1043750/flickr.html). *Macworld*. Mar 21, 2005.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-9) [***k***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-10) [***l***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-11) [***m***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-12) [***n***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-13) [***o***](#cite_ref-founders-at-work_4-14) Livingston, Jessica (2007). [*Founders at Work*](https://archive.org/details/foundersatworkst00livi). Apress. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1590597149](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1590597149).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Yahoo Acquires Flickr Creator"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111136815551984786). *Wall Street Journal*. March 20, 2005.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_6-1) Hembroth, M; Hartmans, A (December 4, 2020). ["The life and career of Stewart Butterfield, the Flickr cofounder and Slack CEO who just sold his company to Salesforce for $27.7 billion"](https://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-life-of-slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-2015-9). *Business Insider*.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_7-1) Welch, J (2021). ["Success beyond STEM: an analysis of educational background of the Fortune 50 CEOs"](https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-02-2020-0018). *Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning*. **11** (2): 557–575. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1108/HESWBL-02-2020-0018](https://doi.org/10.1108%2FHESWBL-02-2020-0018). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [225426350](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:225426350).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_8-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:2_8-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:2_8-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:2_8-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-:2_8-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-:2_8-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-:2_8-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-:2_8-8) Honan, M (2014). ["The Most Fascinating Profile You'll Ever Read About a Guy and His Boring Startup"](https://www.wired.com/2014/08/the-most-fascinating-profile-youll-ever-read-about-a-guy-and-his-boring-startup/). *Wired*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** The Economist (2016). ["Office connection; the Slack generation"](https://www.economist.com/business/2016/05/14/the-slack-generation). *The Economist*. Vol. 419. pp. 53–54.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** The Week (2017). ["City Profiles"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/2054110009). *The Week*. **44**. [ProQuest](/source/ProQuest) [2054110009](https://www.proquest.com/docview/2054110009).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:3_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:3_11-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:3_11-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:3_11-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:3_11-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-:3_11-5) Zeng, X; Wei, L (2013). ["Social ties and user content generation: evidence from Flickr"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/42004270). *Information Systems Research*. **24** (1): 71–87. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1287/isre.1120.0464](https://doi.org/10.1287%2Fisre.1120.0464). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [42004270](https://www.jstor.org/stable/42004270).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:5_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:5_12-1) Tiffany, K (2019). ["Flickr will soon start deleting photos — and massive chunks of internet history"](https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/6/18214046/flickr-free-storage-ends-digital-photo-archive-history). *Vox*.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:4_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:4_13-1) Frommer, D (2018). ["Flickr has been sold after 13 years at Yahoo. Can Flickr be relevant again?"](https://www.vox.com/2018/4/20/17264274/flickr-smugmug-yahoo-oath-verizon-deal-photo-sharing-service-mobile-instagram). *Recode*.

## External links

- [Ludicorp](https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.ludicorp.com) at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (archive index)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ludicorp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludicorp) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludicorp?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.