Turbine Entertainment Raises $30 Million In Additional Funding

Turbine Entertainment, creator of the Asheron's Call MMO series, as well as the upcoming The Lord Of The Rings: Middle Earth Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online PC MMO titles, has received $30 million in additional venture capital funding. This second-round funding for the company, which was founded in 1994 and has headquarters in Westwood, MA and a development studio in Santa Monica, CA, was provided by Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital, with previous investors Highland Capital Partners and Polaris Venture Partners also contributing. Turbine previously secured $18 million from Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and the company's existing investors in December 2003, and this new round of funding has brought the company's total to almost $50 million. The company has recently been strengthening its publishing and rights hold on its internally-developed products. It assumed complete control of development and publishing on Middle Earth Online, after finalizing a deal with Tolkien Enterprises and VU Games, and also took full control of Asheron's Call from Microsoft following the company's first round of financing. Of Turbine's major new MMO worlds, Dungeons & Dragons Online is due to launch later in 2005, and The Lord Of The Rings: Middle Earth Online will launch some time in 2006. When reached for comment, a representative from Turbine confirmed the funding, and indicated that the company would be making an official announcement regarding it early next week.