Turbine, Inc. - Jim Crowley on New Investors @ MMORPG

More information on that investment story at MMORPG.

In a conversation about the announcement, Crowley told MMORPG.com that the move is not much different from the way that any other company raises capital. They are simply selling equity, which is how they grow their business as they have “major initiatives” coming up.

In terms of their new backers, GGV, among other things, provides the company with more Asian market experience, as the company has what Crowley referred to as “feet on the ground” in Asia. The Asian marketplace may be more important than ever for Turbine as they prepare to launch Lord of the Rings Online in Korea in the second half of 2008 and a later Chinese launch late in the year or in 2009 and GGV provides, “an expertise that most Western companies don’t have organically.”

That brings us to talk a little bit about the more recognizable of the pair of companies in Time Warner. Now, just to give you a little bit of background on Time Warner, they are (obviously) a media giant and among the many projects that they have produced over the years was a little film trio directed by a guy named Peter Jackson. Of course, I’m talking about the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Obviously, the partnership is one that makes sense for both parties. The overlap of IPs alone, without going into too much detail. With the announcement so new, Crowley was unable to give any specifics, but it stands to reason that there might be some cross-promotional work and maybe even a new Turbine IP (Though this is more speculative on my part than anything).