Irvine’s Red 5 Studios Inc., a maker of online games started by former workers of Blizzard Entertainment Inc., was acquired by a Chinese video game developer and operator for about $20 million.
Shanghai-based The9 Ltd. ac-quired a majority stake in Red 5 with the investment.
The9 develops and operates what’s called “massive multiplayer online games” in which thousands of players face off over the Internet.
Some industry watchers say the investment helped Red 5 get back on its feet after a tough 2009.
The company quietly underwent a big restructuring earlier this year, in which some 30 jobs were cut.
Red 5 raised about $19 million in 2006 from investors Benchmark Capital and Sierra Ventures.
The company reworked its Web site earlier this year, but it’s still very bare bones. It hasn’t disclosed anything about its current projects.
A year ago the company moved to its current office in Irvine from Aliso Viejo.
Red 5 was started in 2006 by a trio of developers who worked on “World of Warcraft,” Irvine-based Blizzard’s blockbuster online game that has some 11 million players and counting.
Red 5 is headed by Mark Kern, the original team leader on “World of Warcraft.”
“We are very excited to welcome The9 as our key investor and to announce that they are making a commitment to us with the equity infusion,” Kern said.
Red 5 is among a local cadre of hardscrabble video game companies that have been started by former Blizzard workers in recent years.
They include Ready at Dawn Studios LLC and Crazy Pixel Games LLC, both of Irvine.
BlizzCon To Stay
Speaking of Blizzard … The world’s top maker of online video games broke its silence about the status of its yearly fan fest, BlizzCon.
The fan convention is set to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center from Oct. 22 to Oct. 23.
The announcement laid to rest months of rumors that the convention, which attracts nearly 30,000 people, would jump ship for a bigger venue—in Las Vegas.
Rumors about BlizzCon moving started in November, when word spread that this year’s event allegedly was set to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center and take place at the end of July.
News got around fast after a handful of blogs and video game news Web sites posted the story that BlizzCon 2010 would be in Sin City.
Some die-hard fans even went so far as to snatch up cheap flights and hotel rooms.
Blizzard, part of France’s Vivendi SA, sought to quickly dispel online reports but didn’t detail its plans until now.
No information regarding ticket sales or prices has been disclosed yet.
The previous BlizzCon was held in Anaheim in August. Tickets to the event sold out in minutes and many thousands more fans watched online and via pay-per-view on television.
This year’s show will mark the fifth BlizzCon put on by the company there.
Last year’s event featured game tournaments, a costume contest and a closing concert by rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
Epicor Exec Moves On
A former executive from Irvine business software maker Epicor Software Corp. landed a chief executive gig in Northern California.
Menlo Park-based Kana Software Inc. named Mark Duffell president and chief executive, replacing Michael Fields, who is stepping down for health reasons, according to a report in the San Francisco Business Times.
Duffell left Epicor in 2008 after being passed up for a promotion to the top spot by Chief Executive George Klaus.
Duffell, Epicor’s former president and chief operating officer, and Michael Piraino, Epicor’s former chief financial officer, together launched Laguna Hills-based startup M2 Technology Partners LLC later that year.
M2 Technology Partners landed an investment by Menlo Park-based Accel-KKR LLC, an investment fund backed by private equity firms KKR & Co. of New York and Accel Partners of Palo Alto.
M2 is known as a “roll-up” company. It buys up and combines smaller companies to create a privately held business software maker.
Accel-KKR provides funding for the acquisitions, but it didn’t disclose how much it’s invested in M2.
Kana, a maker of customer service software, was taken private by Accel-KKR via M2 back in October for about $50 million.
‘Digital Irvine’
The Irvine Chamber of Commerce is offering $10,000 to the best business plan from a digital media company either based in Irvine or willing to move there as part of its “Digital Irvine” program.
Business plans from established companies as well as startups can enter the contest. The winner is set to be announced at the Irvine Entrepreneur Forum on June 1, a first-time event where local entrepreneurs can make pitches to investors.
The day-long forum will be held at the University of California, Irvine’s Beckman Center. The chamber also is offering a similar prize for best “seed” level presentation.
