Iron Realms Entertainment have made a name for themselves in the text-based MMO market, creating and maintaining some of the best MUDs still functioning on the internets today. They’re so associated with the text games that their MMO project, Earth Eternal, just doesn’t seem to fit under the Iron Realms banner. Enter Sparkplay Media, a spin-off company that is dedicated to creating graphical games. Matt Mihaly, CEO of both Sparkplay and Iron Realms, said, “We’re creating a separate company because the aims of Sparkplay are a bit different from Iron Realms. With IRE we’ve tried to create the most expansive, deep text-based MMORPG experiences around … Sparkplay, on the other hand, is creating games (3d and otherwise) for an audience that is looking for experiences that don’t necessarily require the same level of commitment to get into.”

The first game released under the Sparkplay banner will be Earth Eternal in 2008, with two more titles planned for 2009.