Realtime Worlds Secures Funding; Continues to Work on Pure Awesome

In a press release published earlier today, the Scotland-based games developer announced they have raised $50 million USD in second round funding. This money, of course, will be used towards the growth of the studio and for the continuing development of their upcoming MMO-style open-world action game, All Points Bulletin (APB):

DUNDEE, Scotland, UK and BOULDER, Colo. – April 14, 2008 – Realtime Worlds, a leading independent video game developer, today announced that it has raised $50 million USD in Series B funding. Maverick Capital, the renowned investment firm founded by Lee Ainslie, led the new investment round with existing investor New Enterprise Associates and WPP, a world leader in marketing communications services. The Series B investment will support Realtime Worlds’ continued growth and expansion as the company develops new creative properties and brings innovative online gaming experiences to market.

“Securing funding of this size from partners that are leading the financial and marketing communications industries further affirms Realtime Worlds’ position as one of the most creative, respected and successful game development companies in the world,” said David Jones, founder and CEO, Realtime Worlds. “Since our founding, we have been fortunate to have some of the gaming industry’s top creative talent crafting amazing, groundbreaking interactive entertainment products. With this new infusion of capital, Realtime Worlds is poised to deliver new original experiences to gamers around the globe and to push the boundaries of online gaming.”

About Realtime Worlds
Founded in 2002 by CEO and Creative Director David Jones alongside gaming industry veterans Ian Hetherington and Tony Harman, Realtime Worlds is one of the largest and most successful independent game developers in the world. With an exceptionally talented staff of more than 200, its experienced teams have a tremendous history of creating some of the world's bestselling video games, including the global hit franchises 'Lemmings' and 'Grand Theft Auto'. In 2006, Realtime Worlds received a US$31 million investment commitment from New Enterprise Associates, one of the world's leading venture capital firms. This investment enabled Realtime Worlds to develop new and innovative videogame franchises and recruit top game development talent from around the world.

In an exclusive partnership with Microsoft Game Studios, Realtime Worlds launched its first title, Crackdown, on Xbox 360 in early 2007. The debut game broke records for demo downloads, sold approximately 1.4 million copies, and won multiple awards including prestigious BAFTA and Develop Industry Excellence awards.

Realtime Worlds is currently working on All Points Bulletin, a massively multiplayer online game in the urban action genre.

This news comes as a relief to me. There was a game footage blitz for APB during the last GDC and what RTW has done so far looks extremely promising. The new injection of funds will hopefully be put to good use and provide the team enough backing to complete this title for their projected "sometime in 2008" release date. Missed the GDC video blitz? Here's a sample.