OCT. 13, 2008 • Westwood, Mass.-based Turbine Inc. is opening a West Coast studio in Redwood City, Calif. The Lord of the Rings Online developer said opening the new studio will enable the company to pursue more growth. Turbine has raised $85 million to date in venture capital.  In addition, the developer said in early 2009 it will announce details on a console MMO under development.

Impact: As one of the primary MMO development studios, Turbine begs watching. A move into console platforms would be novel for the industry, yet its likely that the game would be traditional in its other features. Turbine is well aware of developments in micro-transactions, yet has shown no movement beyond subscription models.