• Forbes, Wednesday, September 24, 2008 12:04 PM

A recession may be looming, but the gaming sector shows no signs of slowing down. According to NPD Group, game sales rose 32% to $10.6 billion from January to August. Venture capitalists, still flush with cash, clearly see plenty of opportunity here. On Tuesday, Trion World Network, an online gaming company, raised a whopping $70 million in C-round funding. Among its investors: Trinity Ventures, Rustic Canyon, Time Warner and NBC Universal.

Trion's recent round puts it in the top 10 list of all venture capital deals done in the first half of 2008, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, which said the Trion deal was likely to be the largest media deal of the year. Why are VCs looking to gaming? Because, as Trinity Ventures partner Gus Tai tells Forbes, regardless of the economic climate, "consumers will always look for forms of entertainment, and they are looking for content that's original and provides a different kind of entertainment."

Indeed, recent investments from media giants such as Time Warner, NBC Universal, Disney, Paramount and others suggest that video games are now an important part of the media business. That said, few game companies will receive up to $100 million in funding, as Trion has raised.

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