Red 5 taps some green

Red 5, a game developer composed primarily of former World of Warcraft designers, today said it secured $18.5 million in venture capital funding.

The investment comes from two well-respected VC firms: Benchmark Capital and Sierra Ventures. As reported earlier in GameSpot, Red 5 Studios was formed in September 2004 by a team of former World of Warcraft developers, including team lead Mark Kern. In addition to the team's work on WOW, its credentials include Diablo II, Warcraft III, and the Starcraft series. Red 5 staffers are currently working on a title to be published by Korean online game giant Webzen.

Of the investment, Benchmark general partner Bill Gurley told Reuters that "massive online games like World of Warcraft will become a dominant form of entertainment."

Coincidently, another Western developer with an upcoming title slated to be published by Webzen recently tapped its own funding. Last Friday, Real Time Worlds announced it had secured $31 million in funding.