$16 Million Raised to Curve Videogame Communication
posted Sunday Jul 13, 2014 by Scott Ertz
In-game communication is not a new concept. PC gamers have been using services like Ventrilo for years. Xbox and PlayStation both have game communication built into their platforms. However, while communication on the consoles has continued to improve the PC has not kept up.
A company called Curse is intent on changing that. Their recently open beta of Curse Voice works a little differently than most PC game communication software. Rather than having to share your platform id or username with another member, the service will automatically determine that friends are in the same game with you and offer communication automatically. This makes in-match communication significantly easier in quick-hit, random assignment games.
Because it is such a big shift in the norm, over a million users signed up within the first week. If they can keep up that pace, the company believes that they will have over 10 million by year's end. That is a lot of active users on a brand new platform, especially in a market in which gamers have expected to see little to no changes.
Obviously this caught the attention of many. Among those taking notice were new investors. Curse's latest round of funding brought in $16 million, including money for existing investors, one new investor and a capital loan. This new cash will help the company build, enhance and officially launch the platform.
It's always good to see new blood enter an industry, especially when that market has been so long stagnant. Hopefully Curse Voice will be able to be successful on its own and inspire the rest of the industry to catch up.
Have you checked out the Curse Voice public beta? Let us know your impressions on how it works in the comments.