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Riot Games invests nearly $30 million in online game tools provider Curse Inc.
Riot Games, the developer behind the fabulously lucrative MOBA League of Legends, has invested nearly $30 million in Curse Inc., a company that provides numerous tools for online games including mod and add-on libraries and installers, game wikis, news sites, voice chat programs, and more.
Curse first began in 2006 as a repository for World of Warcraft add-ons, and it later added a platform that streamlined the process of downloading and installing tools for the game. The Curse Client now supports other games as well, including Skyrim, Rift, and others.
One of Curse’s latest tools is Curse Voice, a VOIP chat program targeting gamers that allows users to see what games their friends are playing and chat with them in-game. A statement from Curse CEO Hubert Thieblot seems imply that Curse Voice played a large role in Riot’s investment, and he said that the company will use the money to further improve the tool.
“Riot really believes in what we’re doing and where we’re going,” said Thieblot. “This investment boosts our efforts to continue creating what I believe to be the best communication tool in gaming. In the last year, we’ve seen the size of Curse Voice grow from nothing to over 1 million active players. We’ve added support for most of the top 200 games in the world and are deeply integrated with some of the most popular games our players play.”
He added, “This is, of course, exciting and positive news for us. We’ve known Riot for a long time, and know that Riot, like us, cares very deeply about the core gamer. I’m excited and confident that this will be good for Curse and for the millions of players we serve via Curse Voice.”
While Riot’s investment represents a sizeable contribution to Curse, there does not appear to be any plans for a partnership between the two companies at this time.
“This is an investment in Curse because Riot believes in the team and the experiences they’ve built for players,” a spokesperson for Riot told Game Informer. “We’re not announcing any League of Legends development roadmap plans (or feature plans) right now.”
photo credit: IMG_0331 via photopin (license)
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