Venture firms and media companies invested more than $161 million into 16 companies involved in online games and virtual worlds, bringing the total investment figure for the first half of the year to $345 million, according to a survey by Virtual Worlds Management. The lion's share of the investment went to two companies with strong track records and significant games under their belt. Turbine Inc., which scored $40 million from Time Warner, GGV Capital and other investors, created Asheron's Call, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online. The other company to win big was Realtime Worlds, which bagged $50 million from Maverick Capital and others. A Scottish company with offices in Colorado, Realtime Worlds is headed up by Dave Jones, founder of DMA Design, the primary developer of the Grand Theft Auto series. The developer plans to release APB later this year, an online multiplayer game set in a gritty urban environment featuring cops and thugs (ring any bells?). Also noteworthy is Grockit, an online learning platform, which snagged $8 million from Integral Capital and Benchmark Capital. Mitch Lasky, a Benchmark partner who founded the online game company Jamdat and sold it to Electronic Arts Inc. in 2005 for $680 million, most recently invested in Riot Games, a Los Angeles company that's working on an online title aimed at more serious gamers. Other areas of investment this year: websites for kids such as GirlSense ...
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Venture firms and media companies invested more than $161 million into 16 companies involved in online games and virtual worlds, bringing the total investment figure for the first half of the year to $345 million, according to a survey by Virtual Worlds Management. The lion's share of the investment went to two companies with strong track records and significant games under their belt. Turbine Inc., which scored $40 million from Time Warner, GGV Capital and other investors, created Asheron's Call, Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online. The other company to win big was Realtime Worlds, which bagged $50 million from Maverick Capital and others. A Scottish company with offices in Colorado, Realtime Worlds is headed up by Dave Jones, founder of DMA Design, the primary developer of the Grand Theft Auto series. The developer plans to release APB later this year, an online multiplayer game set in a gritty urban environment featuring cops and thugs (ring any bells?). Also noteworthy is Grockit, an online learning platform, which snagged $8 million from Integral Capital and Benchmark Capital. Mitch Lasky, a Benchmark partner who founded the online game company Jamdat and sold it to Electronic Arts Inc. in 2005 for $680 million, most recently invested in Riot Games, a Los Angeles company that's working on an online title aimed at more serious gamers. Other areas of investment this year: websites for kids such as GirlSense ...