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Curse is a network of gaming websites. The company is headquartered in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
, and has offices in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, and
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Curse initially focused on offering mods for various video games. As it expanded, the company began to develop and acquire gaming communities (particularly focusing on
MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
titles such as ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'', as well as other games such as ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
''),
wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
s, as well as offering
voice chat Voice chat is telecommunication via voice over IP technologies—especially when those technologies are used among players in multiplayer online games. Users might use either a VoIP engine system that is built into the game, or a separate pro ...
services. The company also sponsored an eponymous eSports club, which competed primarily in ''
League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...
''. On August 16, 2016, Curse announced that it had agreed to be acquired by
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
via its subsidiary
Twitch Interactive Twitch is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and " in real life" streams. Twitch is opera ...
for an undisclosed amount. On December 12, 2018,
Fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...
announced that they had acquired Curse's media assets, including its gaming community websites, Gamepedia
wiki farm A wiki hosting service, or wiki farm, is a server or an array of servers that offers users tools to simplify the creation and development of individual, independent wikis. Wiki farms are not to be confused with wiki "families", a more generic ...
and D&DBeyond. The remainder of the company (operating as CurseForge) remained under Twitch. In the middle of 2020, CurseForge was sold from Twitch to Overwolf.


History


2006–2010

Curse was born out of founder Hubert Thieblot's "hardcore" love of ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
''. After leaving school, Thieblot began to turn his passion into a business, launching CurseBeta in 2006, offering up add-ons and modifications. In short order, the site exponentially increased in traffic and popularity. As the funding for Curse increased, it proceeded to develop several high-profile sites in-house, while acquiring larger sites with already established communities and content, particularly for MMO games such as ''
RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was large ...
''.


2010–2014

In 2011, Inc. 500 ranked Curse Inc. as the 405th fastest growing company in the United States, and the San Francisco Business Times ranked it 22nd in their list of the "Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the San Francisco Bay Area". On December 14, 2012, Curse officially launched the Gamepedia
wiki farm A wiki hosting service, or wiki farm, is a server or an array of servers that offers users tools to simplify the creation and development of individual, independent wikis. Wiki farms are not to be confused with wiki "families", a more generic ...
. In April 2012,
Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...
named Thieblot as a semifinalist in their "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year" program for Northern California. By June 2012, Curse's monthly worldwide traffic was reported by Quantcast as being in excess of 21 million unique visitors. On June 26, 2013, Curse announced in a press conference that it would relocate their chief headquarters to Huntsville, Alabama, leaving their sales office in San Francisco. On May 7, 2014, Curse introduced Curse Profiles, an integrated social media system in Gamepedia offering a wide range of features. The service allows users to add wikis to their favorites list, earn Wikipoints and Levels, display personal statistics (such as global editing leaderboards, number of edits, etc.), and change and set global preferences; the service also introduced a new user page system, a change from the
MediaWiki MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...
standard user pages, including a new commenting system. Curse has expressed a long-term interest in expanding content and communities as their prime concern.


Acquisition by Amazon

On August 16, 2016, Amazon.com Inc. announced via subsidiary
Twitch Interactive Twitch is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and " in real life" streams. Twitch is opera ...
that it would acquire Curse, Inc. for an undisclosed amount. In April 2017, the Curse desktop app was renamed to Twitch.


Sale of media properties to Fandom

In December 2018, it was announced that Fandom, Inc. had reached an agreement to acquire Curse's media properties from Amazon.com for an undisclosed amount. This excludes Curse's client software and the CurseForge network, which both now operate directly under Twitch Interactive.


Acquisition by Overwolf

On June 22, 2020,
Overwolf Overwolf is a software platform designed to help developers create extensions for video games, which are then offered to users through Overwolf's ''App Store''. The platform was created by Overwolf Ltd., and extensions are often focused on provi ...
announced that it had acquired CurseForge for an undisclosed amount. After November 30, 2020, the Twitch Desktop App no longer manages mods, and has been replaced by the CurseForge Client, which is for PC (Overwolf required) and macOS (Standalone, Overwolf not required).


Curse sites and services


Curse Client and CurseForge

Curse Client is an add-on and modification management service from Curse, with current support for ''World of Warcraft'', ''
Runes of Magic Runes of Magic (RoM) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by the Taiwanese developer Runewaker Entertainment and adapted for the English and German-speaking market by German company Frogster Interactive. Frogs ...
'', ''
Rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...
'', ''
World of Tanks ''World of Tanks'' (''WoT'') is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Belarusian company Wargaming, featuring 20th century (1910s–1970s) era combat vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to- ...
'', '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'', ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
'', and ''
Kerbal Space Program ''Kerbal Space Program'' (''KSP'') is a space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican developer Squad for Microsoft Windows, macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system de ...
''. The client functions as a lightweight alternative to traditional add-on management tools, and features synchronization across multiple personal computers, add-on setting backups, and a privately developed security system. The client is supported by the CurseForge website, which allows for the uploading and reviewing of plugins, add-ons, and modifications.


Curse Voice

Curse Voice was a
Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of speech, voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms In ...
(VoIP) client produced in-house by Curse. Intended to replace other VOIP solutions for games such as ''League of Legends'', the client boasts a robust feature set, including an in-game voice overlay, an auto-match making service for automatically connecting you to the members of your team, and the use of URL links to join sessions. The client was originally rejected by
Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on t ...
, who felt that the timers included for various spawn times could be considered cheating, but Curse has since removed the offending content and brought the software in line with the terms of service for ''League of Legends''. The German version is still in the beta-phase. In 2015, Curse Voice initiated a PR campaign to show users, developers and publishers all of the benefits that the service had to offer. The service boasted how its safety features could help prevent users from getting swatted with Curse's CTO explaining how this was possible in an interview with Polygon. Other publications such as ''IGN'', ''GameCrate'', and Yahoo News picked up the story. On May 6, Curse reported on the growth of its VoIP service on ''GameSpot'' and ''Game Informer'' as it prepared to show off the service at E3 2015. In June 2015, Curse Voice made its way to not only PC, but Mac and mobile, giving users more ways to use the service while on the go or at home. Gamers started to take note of all the features that Curse Voice has to offer, and publications like ''Kotaku'' and ''PC Gamer'' recommended using the service while playing online games like ''League of Legends''. Consequentially, on July 7, SEC reports revealed that Riot Games had invested $30 million in Curse, but no further details were revealed at the time. The company had stated that they wanted to help games improve their in-game chat and many gamers speculated if maybe this was the case with the recent investment. Curse Voice has been proven to improve a game's community according to recent interviews with Smite and Robocraft alongside the release of the company's whitepaper. With all of these big gains in the Curse Voice Client, Curse officially announced the opening of a new headquarters for their VoIP service on September 10 to Irvine, California. On March 16, 2017, Curse Voice and Curse Client were both discontinued and replaced by the Twitch Desktop app.


BukkitDev

One of the larger sites in the CurseForge network, BukkitDev is a collection of ''Minecraft'' plugins for the Bukkit development platform, a platform which has become the de facto standard for ''Minecraft'' plugins within the last few years. As of May 2014, BukkitDev hosts 13,570 plugins and 8,337 unique users. The Bukkit system has proven so effective and widespread, that on February 28, 2012,
Mojang Mojang Studios is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game ''Minecraft'', the best-selling video game of all time. Mojang Studios was founded by the independent ...
, the makers of ''Minecraft'', hired the developers to improve ''Minecraft'''s support of server and client modifications and plugins.


Kerbal CurseForge

On May 6, 2014, CurseForge introduced Kerbal CurseForge as an official repository of modifications and add-ons for the popular game ''
Kerbal Space Program ''Kerbal Space Program'' (''KSP'') is a space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican developer Squad for Microsoft Windows, macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system de ...
'' On May 6, 2014, developers Squad announced the partnership; Squad COO Adrian Goya said of the service, “Modders have helped make ''Kerbal Space Program'' a more open, more rewarding game experience for our players. Curse is an important partner because their team is passionate and experienced in caring for and growing online game communities, such as our amazing playerbase for ''Kerbal Space Program''.” Additionally, Curse's Author Platform Evangelist Bryan McLemore stated, "We've got a great platform and a tremendous team that will be supporting the amazing modders for ''Kerbal Space Program''. We also expect the millions of gamers who frequent Curse every month to see ''Kerbal Space Program'' as a great addition to our existing community." Kerbal CurseForge already boasts 94,300 downloads from its central repository.


Curse Network

Curse owns and operates multiple high-traffic gaming websites, including Azurilland, Diablofans, Hearthpwn, MMO-Champion, Arena Junkies, Reign of Gaming, LoL Pro, Minecraft Forums,
Guild Wars 2 ''Guild Wars 2'' is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild ded ...
Guru, and FPS General. Curse has also acquired the first person shooter statistics and science website Symthic which focuses on the statistical analysis of data from FPS games, including such details as weight, accuracy, and weapon drift. Curse partnered in 2014 with
GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
to provide a free game from their library for premium Curse members.


Gamepedia

On December 14, 2012, Curse launched Gamepedia, a wiki hosting platform dedicated to video games and written by gamers. The site had since increased in popularity, with, as of April 2019, 1,293,790 contributors, 6,224,464 articles and 2,195 wikis. Gamepedia hosted a number of official wikis, which were endorsed and supported by the game developers themselves. High-profile wikis such as The Official ''Witcher'' Wiki, the Official ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
'' Wiki, The Official ''ARK: Survival Evolved'' Wiki, ''
Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...
'' Wiki, Leaguepedia, ''COD'' Wiki, and
Wowpedia Wowpedia is a wiki about the ''Warcraft'' fictional universe. It covers all of the ''Warcraft'' games, including the MMORPG ''World of Warcraft''. It is both a specialized wiki built around the ''Warcraft'' universe and a collaborative space f ...
had hundreds of thousands of edits across thousands of accounts. These wikis were also available in several languages. On December 12, 2018, the ownership of Gamepedia was transferred to
Fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...
, the login services were merged with the Fandom login services around late-July early-August 2020. In early-2021 all Gamepedia wikis were in the process of being converted to the Unified Community Platform (UCP) with the FandomDesktop theme. By mid-2021, Gamepedia wikis migrated and the Gamepedia brand was retired in favor of Fandom's one.


Union for Gamers

Curse partnered with YouTube content producer
Athene Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of va ...
in March 2012 for a YouTube partnership program and offered a wide range of features and tools. Curse has stated that the Union for Gamers has a "user-first approach", offering 90% revenue share (where the content producer receives 90% of video profits), a non-capped contract (there is no maximum amount of money that could be paid out to content producers, unlike capped contracts, where, regardless of the amount your video earns, you can only earn up to a certain amount), no lock-in (content producers are free to terminate their contract whenever they choose), and no requirements for upload schedules or Curse endorsements. Union for Gamers also offers several tools to content producers, arranged in a dashboard format. The dashboard includes summary boxes which track income, video data, referrals, and previous month comparisons, and a graph feature for revenue and traffic comparison. Tied into the dashboard is a referral system, allowing for additional income to be passively generated by referring parties. Additionally, Curse provides content producers with a knowledge database and support system, exclusive access to Curse logos and video clips. From the Dashboard, users have access to all their videos, earnings break down, and a wide range of sounds and music provided b
Epidemic Sound
an
AudioMicro
In addition, they also have access t
Epoxy
a one-stop-shop for their other social media accounts. From there, they can upload new videos, or track their
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, and
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
accounts. Epidemic also helps create short clips of uploaded videos, pre-formatted to meet specific social media requirements. , Curse is no longer accepting new channels into Union for Gamers.


YouTube

Curse also produced videos in-house for their official YouTube channel. The lineup includes Curse Weekly Roundup, the Minecraft Update, the WoW Weekly Recap, the League Update, and the
Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...
Update. Curse also provides live coverage of game industry events including the
Penny Arcade Expo PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX w ...
,
Gamescom Gamescom (stylized as gamescom) is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 2018, it has been organised by ''game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche'' (English: Associa ...
, MineCon,
BlizzCon BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and ''Overwatch''. The first BlizzCon was hel ...
, and the
Eve Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...
Fanfest. Curse historically broadcast livestreamed content on their Own3D channel until Own3D ceased operations as a company on January 31, 2013.


Team Curse

Curse formerly sponsored a professional team, known collectively as
Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve Arhancet, Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired b ...
, that competed in ''
League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...
'' and ''
Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game Media franchise, franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold W ...
'', which in addition to various high-profile wins have garnered sponsorship from companies such as
Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
,
Alienware Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidiary of Dell. Their product range is dedicated to gaming computers which can be identified by their alien-themed designs. Alienware was founded in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, and is ...
, and
Cooler Master Cooler Master Technology Inc. is a computer hardware manufacturer based in Taiwan. Founded in 1992, the company produces computer cases, power supplies, air and liquid CPU coolers, laptop cooling pads, and computer peripherals. Alongside its re ...
. In December 2014, it was announced that the team would drop the Curse name due to new
League of Legends Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional ''League of Legends'' in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided into ...
sponsorship rules (in particular, Curse had wanted to have Curse Voice be a sponsor through other teams, which would prohibit it from being title sponsor of another team). It was ultimately announced in January 2015 that the Team Curse organization would merge into
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team Liq ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curse Inc. Video game companies of the United States Internet properties established in 2006 2006 establishments in California Companies based in Huntsville, Alabama Amazon (company) acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions 2020 mergers and acquisitions Fandom (website)