Thursday, November 13, 2008

Turbine: We're not worried about Wrath of the Lich King launch

By Mass High Tech Staff

Despite launch dates that are less than a week apart, Turbine Inc. officials have said they are not concerned that their Mines of Moria expansion pack will come out close on the heels of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion from Blizzard Entertainment.

The Wrath of the Lich King expansion is a content upgrade for the industry-dominating World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) that hits store shelves today. Turbine’s Mine of Moria is the first for-sale expansion pack for the Westwood-based company’s Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG and will be available on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

In an interview with gaming website Videogaming247, Jeff Steefel, executive producer of Lord of the Rings Online, said the company isn’t worried about the close release dates, citing different audiences for the two games.

Turbine, which makes the games Asheron’s Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, has raised a total of $88 million in venture financing, beginning in February 2005, when it announced it had secured the right to develop an online game based on the works of fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien.

In early October, Turbine opened a West-Coast studio in Redwood City, Calif. The new creative unit features former Flagship Studios co-founder Dave Brevik as creative director, Jeff Lind from Ping0 as engineering director and Matt McKnight of Sniper Studios as studio director. Later in the same month, Turbine announced it had leased new space in Dedham and would seek to hire 50 new employees.

In April, Turbine landed $40 million in a third round of venture capital funding. Granite Global Ventures led the Series C financing, which included previous investors Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital. Granite Global managing partner Hani Nada has taken a seat on the Turbine board.