Turbine picks up $40 million, keeps mum about its next steps

Jim Crowley, the CEO of Turbine, isn’t an easy man to get a straight answer from. I heard that his company, which makes “massively multiplayer online” games such as “The Lord of the Rings Online,” was raising a new round of venture capital about a month ago. That’s a big deal, since Turbine is one of the big success stories in this industry and raising a new round could mean big new projects are in the works at the Westwood, Mass., company.

Adam Mersky, Turbine’s PR man, told me the funding rumor wasn’t true. Then I interviewed Crowley on April 17, where he pretty much said the same thing. His answer was evasive, but it left an opening for the possibility that Turbine had already closed a round.

In any case, on Tuesday, the news broke that Turbine has indeed raised another $40 million in venture capital to fund its online computer game business, according to a report by peHub. The round was led by Granite Global Ventures and included Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital. To date, the company has raised more than $90 million.

Mersky still declines to comment on the funding. But I leave it to the reader to surmise from my Q&A with the secretive Crowley to figure out what Turbine is going to do with all of that money, if, in fact, the filing dug out by peHub is true.

From what I see, here is a logical theory. Turbine has raised $40 million, partly to expand the Lord of the Rings Online around the world more quickly; Crowley says the Asia expansion alone will bring millions of subscribers to that game. Turbine also wants to fund the expansion of properties like Dungeons & Dragons Online, which on its own isn’t generating enough revenue to fund expansion. And then the company has a couple of more secret projects in the works. My guess is that they’re going to do a console MMO game based on The Lord of the Rings Online. Taking the MMO to the consoles would be a big deal and would help it compete head-to-head with console MMO rivals such as Sony and NCSoft. But take a look at Crowley’s words and judge for yourself.

What’s the latest at Turbine?
JC: Our technology has been pushing the envelope. We are operating three worlds today. Asheron’s Call. Dungeons  & Dragons Online. And the Lord of the Rings Online. We are operating in 50 countries now with our worlds. We are growing like gangbusters on every dimension that you could possibly imagine. We are very focused on the topics of accessibility and distribution. That is both on how we can expand access to the worlds to more players and expand our markets. We are focused on global expansion. We are expanding the portfolio. There are things we can’t talk about there but there are lots of exciting things going on.

VB: You guys said you are not raising a round now. I initiated this call because I heard you were raising a round.
JC: One of the great things about Turbine, and one of the most exciting things about Turbine, given our success, we have a tremendous number of people who seek to partner with us, whether it be IP owners, or financial sponsors and or traditional VC firms. As a result, we have a tremendous amount of flexibility in avenues we may choose. At this specific time we are not out chasing money. I don’t expect to be in the near future.