Machinima.com gets $3.85 million in funding for business expansion

Machinima and MMOs just seem to go hand-in-hand so well. What's more fun than letting your guildmate friends be dancers in your latest music video spoof, or thespians in the latest episode of your dramatic series based on their World of Warcraft characters. It's for this reason that machinima has gained so much popularity in recent years. It's a way for everyday people to expand upon their fantasy lifestyle in an MMO and bring it out in the form of artistic expression.

So it should be no surprise that a website like Machinima.com would be so popular and successful. Recently they've upped the ante a bit in the form of $3.85 million in funding from MK Capital and other private investors. This money will be used to expand Machinima.com's business plans, allowing them to appoint five entertainment industry leaders to its Board of Directors.

"Any company that is planning to launch a major video game or movie can't afford to overlook Machinima.com and its powerful reach in the gaming and entertainment communities," said Terri Perkins, media strategy director at Funcom. According to the Age of Conan developer, a recent ad campaign in conjunction with Machinima.com yielded impressive results.

Ideally, a move like this by investors can only mean good things for the future of user-generated content and the freedom of artistic expression though MMOs as a medium. Although, as we've seen in many other forms of entertainment, once big money enters the indie picture, things inevitably will change. We just hope the change is positive.