14 DAY TRIAL // Turbine, the developer of the MMO Lord of the Rings Online, is announcing that it secured a further 40 million dollars in a financing drive. All of the money comes from venture capital funds, with firm Granite Global Ventures taking the lead in the financing round and other previous investors in the MMO creator also taking an interest. Hani Nada , a partner at Granite Global Ventures, has now one of the seats in Turbine's board.
Turbine has secured, up to this point, some 88 million dollars in venture capital. The company has not offered detailed plans regarding the use of these funds, but most likely they are needed to support the current projects it has and for investment in future concepts. A spokesman for the company has said that Turbine is excited about the new possibilities created through the financing and will hold a press event in about two weeks to make an important announcement.
Turbine is dedicated to MMO development. Its oldest project is Asheron's Call, a MMO that was launched in 1998 and for which Microsoft held initial publishing rights. In 2004, Turbine bought the rights back and now self-publishes the game. The world of Asheron's call is different from that of other MMOs in that the level of the character is not the principal element in combat and in that the world is not segmented into separate areas. The game is said to be much more unpredictable than World of Warcraft, for example.
Dungeons and Dragons Online is another of Turbine's projects, focused more on raiding parties and monthly content updates, which is due to receive some new content and possibly an expansion in the following months.
Given the fact that the Lord of the Rings Online is already a fleshed out experience and that the team is focused more on offering support, it is pretty likely for Turbine to announce a new MMO project in the following period.