Turbine Cuts Out Publishers With Funding Boost

Posted by simoniker on Monday December 15, 2003 @11:32AM from the say-vee-cee dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an official press release announcing MMORPG developer Turbine has secured almost $20 million in venture capital funding to help fund Turbine's first self-published PC MMO project, Dungeons & Dragons Online. A GameSpot story quotes a Turbine spokesman as saying the move presents a "total shift in [our] business model. We're taking out the middle man between us and our fans." The Asheron's Call developers are still "partnered with Atari for retail marketing and distribution" on D&D Online, the company it "secured the D&D MMORPG sublicense" from earlier this year, but describes its intent to "[transition] from a developer into service publisher with its newest franchises." Turbine are also still working on The Lord Of The Rings: Middle-Earth Online in partnership with Vivendi.

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The economy is recovering... by Ieshan · 2003-12-15 11:50 · Score: 2, Funny

Well, the economy is recovering, so we ought to see a dramatic rise in pre-bust business models appearing.

Current:
Publisher says: We'll publish your game and give you money to produce it if you can demonstrate that it will sell. After we sell it, we'll give you your profits.

Then:
People say: Here's 20 million dollars! Go waste it on nerf guns and quake-lan parties. Oh, and if you get around to making a game, maybe spend some on that, too?
Cause cutting out quality control is a good thing? by Mike+Hawk · 2003-12-15 12:12 · Score: 2, Funny

Lets see, financial stability approaches zero. Quality control approaches zero. Customer support approaches zero. What was the last major PC game project to come out without a publisher? Oh yeah. Steam. Roger that.