asherons-call posts

Last night's surprise (and extremely late) news story on MMO game developer Turbine being acquired by Warner Bros. has now yielded some more info, according to the Boston.com web site (Turbine is based in Boston). According to their unnamed sources Warner Bros. paid $160 million to purchase Turbine. That amount includes "sums to be paid to Turbine shareholders in future years if the company meets certain financial targets."

While Turbine has never officially announced how many players they have for their subscription-based MMO games Asheron's Call and Lord of the Rings Online, the story says that Turbine admitted to having over one million players for Dungeons and Dragons Online, which moved to a free-to-play business model last year. Also Martin Tremblay, the current president of Warner Bros. Interactive, stated in the story they plan to work with the Turbine team to develop more games. Warner Bros. is home to The Matrix movies; the MMO based on the films, The Matrix Online, shut down in 2009. Warner Bros is also home to DC Comics. The super hero MMO DC Universe Online, is currently in development at Sony Online.

One of the biggest independent developers of MMO games has just been bought by an media conglomerate that is continuing to expand as a game publisher. The Boston-based Turbine announced today that it has been acquired by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Specific financial terms were not disclosed but Warner Bros' parent company Time Warner had previously invested in Turbine alongside a number of other venture capital companies.

Turbine, formed in 1994, is best known for their newest MMO games, the free-to-play Dungeons and Dragons Online and the subscription-based Lord of the Rings Online. Turbine's acquisition by Warner Bros. means that the publisher now controls all of the game licenses in the Lord of the Rings franchise (it previously acquired the PC and console game rights from Electronic Arts).

In their press release today, Warner Bros stated that in addition to their games, they also wanted access to Turbine's digital publishing platform along with their social networking tools. Warner Bros. hints they may use Turbine's tech in areas other than games.

It was officially launched over 10 years ago yet Turbine's first fantasy MMO Asheron's Call still has a loyal player base exploring the mythical land of Dereth. Today Turbine announced a new free content update to the game that, among other things, adds a new player race. The new Shadow race, as one might guess, is an interesting new twist for the game's back story.

Also added in this new update is a new magical level called Aetheria along with support for multi-slot armor. And if you fancy an old fashioned makeover the game has added in-game barbers that can make your character's hair look much different. Turbine has issued over 70 free content updates to the game since its launch in 1999.

Ten years ago today, back when there wasn't a new MMO launching or being announced every week, developer Turbine released Asheron's Call. Their fantasy-themed MMO quickly joined Ultima Online and the original Everquest in terms of popularity. For a couple of years the genre was dominated by these "Big Three" games.

While a sequel, Asheron's Call 2, failed to attract an audience (it launched in 2002 and was shut down just over three years later) the original is still online. Today Turbine announced that the game is celebrating the 10th anniversary with live events today. Part of those events will bring back some of the game's old characters and villains. Turbine continues to expand the game with new content and will soon add a new skill, Gearcrafting, to the game.

As the company prepares to re-launch Dungeons and Dragons Online into a free-to-play MMO, Turbine continues to raise money to support its business. Gamasutra reports that a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that Turbine has brought in another $6.6 million in investments from various sources.

Turbine has already received over $90 million in investment money including a $40 million score in the summer of 2008. This latest filing indicates Turbine is looking for another $50 million. In addition to the relaunch of D&D Online as a free-to-play MMO in early September, Turbine still runs the subscription based MMOs Asheron's Call and Lord of the Rings Online. Persistent rumors have Turbine developing MMOs for the console space but so far those rumors have not yet come to pass.

Boston-based game developer Turbine has had a busy 2008. It brought in a new management team, it announced a new round of venture capital funding and this fall it will launch Mines of Moria, their first commercial expansion pack to their fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online. Last week Turbine announced plans to expand to the west coast with an office in Redwood City, California.

So what does all this mean for the MMO developer? Big Download got a quick update on the company's plans as their director of communications Adam Mersky answered our questions.

Boston-based MMO developer Turbine has its sights set on the west coast once again. The company, who recently secured a $40 million investement deal, has just announced the formation of a new game development studio in Redwood City, California. Two of the new studio heads are former Flagship Studios members; it's co-founder Dave Brevik is now the Creative Director at the new Turbine studio while engineering director Jeff Lind led the Ping0 team that created the online service for Flagship.

As we mentioned, this isn't the first time that Turbine has tried to launch a west coast dev studio. The company opened up an office in Santa Monica, California in early 2004 but shut down the operations less than two years later (along with their MMO Asheron's Call 2). There's no specifics on what the new Turbine west coast office will be working on.

[via email press release]

Turbine has been promoting its upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion pack Mines of Moria for the past several months but the developer has some other plans for their fantasy MMO as well. Gamasutra reports from the Tokyo Game Show that Turbine plans to launch a Facebook-like social networking web site around the game sometime before the end of 2008.

Turbine CEO Jim Crowley stated during his presentation that the web site would contain features like player profiles, friends, character achievements, blog sites, and player created videos and screenshots. Turbine's other two current MMO titles, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Asheron's Call, will also have similar social networked sites in the near future.

It's one of the longest running MMOs in history and this week Turbine announced that their first game, the fantasy MMO Asheron's Call, just had its 100th free content update released to its subscribers. For those who need details, this update adds the beginnings of the much requested (by the game's players) an Elder Games system along with two new PvP controllable towns.

Turbine first released Asheron's Call in November 1999 via publisher Microsoft and made a point to have the game feel like a ongoing storyline was taking place with monthly events and content released. Two commerical expansion packs for the game have been released since the launch and the free content updates have also continued. Turbine took over full control of the game from Microsoft in 2003. The game has even outlasted its graphically improved sequel Asheron's Call 2 which launched in 2002 but shut down completely just three years later.

Over a month ago we reported on rumors that MMO developer Turbine was about to receive a $40 million infusion of funding from various venture capital sources. This morning the Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online developer made that rumor official with a press release announcing the new financial deal.

One of the more interesting sources of Turbine's new capital is Time Warner who have been moving more and more into the games space from various fronts, including Warner Bros. Interactive and Gametap (Time Warner is also the parent company of AOL which owns Big Download). The new Turbine press release was short on details on what the company plans to do with the money, saying it " . . . . will be used to further accelerate Turbine's growth as a global leader in online entertainment."