Linden Lab today announced the acquisition of Xstreet SL and OnRez. The company hopes that these purchases will help enhance the Second Life experience in 2009 by consolidating the two marketplaces into the Xstreet SL platform. Users of Second Life purchased $360 million worth of virtual goods and services last year.

"Linden Lab is expanding its footprint in the virtual world industry through four major initiatives – localizing the Second Life experience in key markets around the world, simplifying the 'first hour experience' to broaden consumer adoption, enhancing the platform for enterprise users and building our virtual goods marketplace," said Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab. "Content creators and merchants are pillars of the strong Second Life economy. With these e-commerce acquisitions, we will now be able to offer content creators and merchants an opportunity to substantially improve their businesses, while enhancing the Second Life experience for all of our Residents."

"The vibrant in-world economy is part of what makes Second Life such a compelling experience for Residents," said Jay Geeseman, founder of Xstreet SL. "Just as e-commerce can enhance the shopping experience for real life goods, so it can for virtual goods. With the Xstreet SL marketplace integrated more closely with Second Life, Residents will be able to find goods more easily and shop more conveniently, while merchants will have broader channels to sell their creations."