Starwave was a Seattle, Washington-based software and website company, founded in 1993 by Paul Allen,[1] co-founder of Microsoft and led by CEO Mike Slade.
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.
In April 1998, Disney purchased the outstanding shares of Starwave from Allen[5][6] after an initial buy of about 30% in 1997.
[1] The new entity, Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) developed the Go.com portal.