Starwave
Defunct software and website company
title: "Starwave" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-companies-established-in-1993", "american-companies-disestablished-in-1998", "companies-based-in-bellevue,-washington", "defunct-software-companies-of-the-united-states", "defunct-video-game-companies-of-the-united-states", "disney-acquisitions", "software-companies-established-in-1993", "software-companies-disestablished-in-1998", "video-game-companies-established-in-1993", "video-game-companies-disestablished-in-1998", "software-companies-based-in-seattle"] description: "Defunct software and website company" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starwave" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Defunct software and website company ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Starwave Corporation |
| fate | Acquired by The Walt Disney Company, 1998 |
| successor | Walt Disney Internet Group |
| foundation | |
| defunct | |
| location | Bellevue, Washington, U.S. |
| industry | Digital content |
| key_people | Paul Allen, Mike Slade, Patrick Naughton |
| :: |
| name = Starwave Corporation | logo = | type = | fate = Acquired by The Walt Disney Company, 1998 | Predecessor = | successor = Walt Disney Internet Group | foundation = | defunct = | location = Bellevue, Washington, U.S. | industry = Digital content | products = | key_people = Paul Allen, Mike Slade, Patrick Naughton | num_employees = | parent = | subsid =
Starwave was a Seattle, Washington-based software and website company, founded in 1993 by Paul Allen, The company produced original CD-ROM titles, including Muppets Inside, and titles for Clint Eastwood, Sting, and Peter Gabriel. They were the original developers of Castle Infinity, the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game for children, but Starwave's most lasting mark was in the area of web content sites. They developed ESPN.com, ABCNEWS.com, Outside Online, and Mr. Showbiz.com among other sites, setting the standard for much of the commercial Internet explosion of the late 1990s. Starwave also developed the first site and publishing system for Jim Cramer's TheStreet.com.
Disney
The company merged with Infoseek and was later sold to The Walt Disney Company. In April 1998, Disney purchased the outstanding shares of Starwave from Allen after an initial buy of about 30% in 1997. The new entity, Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) developed the Go.com portal.
In 2004, Disney re-activated the Starwave identity as Starwave Mobile, which published casual games for mobile phones. They published several Scarface licensed games including Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. and games from Capybara Games including Critter Crunch.
References
References
- "Mike Slade on 80s Microsoft, NeXT, Starwave and Steve Jobs' Return to Apple".
- (25 January 2016). "How this Seattle venture capitalist ended up being the subject of ESPN's hilarious new ad campaign".
- (30 May 1995). "Starwave Teams With Sting and A&M Records To Create Interactive CD-ROMs". Business Wire.
- Pelline, Jeff. (April 30, 1998). "Disney to buy Starwave". CNET News.
- (4 April 1997). "Volume 146, Number 50752.". New York Times.
- "Disney buys stake in Starwave". News.cnet.com.
- (25 October 2004). "Newly Formed Starwave Mobile Announces Initial Content Lineup". Business Wire.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::