Trilogy Studios, a video and virtual game co., raises $3.2M

Trilogy Studios, a Santa Monica, Calif. videogame and virtual world development company, said it has raised $3.2 million in a second round of funding.

The company did not name the investors, but said the funds will be allocated to expand the company’s virtual world and casual massively multiplayer online (MMO) businesses.

The company joins a crowd of other venture-backed game and virtual world companies, and its not clear what makes this company distinct.

Here’s a snippet from the press release:

Founders Michael Pole and Rick Giolito also named Michael Wilson, CEO of Makena Technologies and producer of There.com, to Trilogy Studios’ board of directors.

“We continue to leverage our extensive background of developing multi-million unit selling videogames to enhance the entertainment experience of virtual worlds and casual MMOs,” said Michael Pole, Chairman and CEO of Trilogy Studios.

“Combining our decades of experience in traditional gaming with Makena’s leadership in social networking, we can provide media companies the opportunity to build a one on one relationship with their consumers while promoting and monetizing their content libraries and new entertainment properties in this exciting new medium”.

Trilogy Studios has a pedigree in top quality videogame development and has attracted a number of highly successful creative executives and developers who were responsible for some of the biggest interactive entertainment franchises, including Medal of Honor™, The Chronicles of Riddick™, The Hulk™, Aliens vs. Predator™, No One Lives Forever™, Hot Wheels: Turbo Racing, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, The Simpsons: Road Rage™, Empire Earth™, NASCAR™ and Knockout Kings™.

“Trilogy enables major media and brand companies the opportunity to monetize their content in the online space through micro-transactions, premium subscriptions, e-commerce, sponsorship and advertising”, said Rick Giolito, President of Trilogy Studios and former Vice President and Executive Producer of Electronic Arts, Los Angeles. “We’re having a successful run with MTV’s Virtual ‘Pimp My Ride,’ and we’ve received very promising feedback from established media companies looking to extend their film, television and music content into the virtual world space.”