A post on the Shroud of the Avatar Forums has word that Catnip Games has acquired Shroud of the Avatar, Richard Garriott's spiritual successor to Ultima Online. This news is from about a month ago, but we missed it at the time (thanks Jim). The game went free-to-play about a year ago just seven months after its launch. According to the announcement, they are working on regular updates along with the upcoming release of Episode 2 of the MMORPG:

As of October 2019 Austin-based production studio Catnip Games has acquired the operating assets of Portalarium, Inc.; primary of which is Shroud of the Avatar.

Portalarium was co-founded in 2009 by Hall of Fame videogame designer Richard Garriott (aka “Lord British”). Portalarium’s most recent game Shroud of the Avatar has a large global community of players which Catnip Games will continue to develop and expand.

Catnip Games was established by Chris Spears, who served as CTO of Portalarium for over 6 years and was appointed President of Portalarium in 2019.

Commenting about the acquisition, Richard Garriott noted “We’re immensely grateful to the community who has built this game with us. The community’s support and participation remains strong and growing, and Starr and I plan to continue being involved in the community and within the game.”

Starr Long, the executive producer of Shroud of the Avatar, also commented on the acquisition; noting that “Chris has successfully led the design and the team for many years, he is an all-star A player.”

Chris Spears added that “The development team remains with the project, and we plan to continue with the established patterns of regular releases, frequent live broadcasts, community events, release parties, and a development cadence focused on both constantly improving the core game, while also working towards Episode 2.”