$30 million blows into Turbine's coffers

Turbine Entertainment, developer of massively multiplayer online games, has raised $30 million in second-round venture capital, the Boston Globe is reporting today. The funds will be used to help the company fund development and publish two new MMOs: Dungeons & Dragons Online and the recently renamed The Lord of the Rings: Middle-Earth Online.

This is the company's second infusion of venture capital. A previous round of $18 million in funding was used to purchase the Asheron's Call license back from Microsoft, making Turbine the sole owner of the MMO franchise it created.

Reportedly, this new round of funding comes as a combination of monies from Columbia Capital and Tudor Ventures and from previous investors Polaris Venture Partners and Highland Capital Partners.

In March, Turbine cut Vivendi Universal Games out of its Middle-Earth Online game plans and assumed the role of publisher for the game, which will be released in 2006.

The company has offices in Westwood, Massachusetts, and Santa Monica, California.