In-game communication service Xfire has secured $4m in investment from corporate venturing unit Intel Capital, and plans to use the cash to split from gaming platform Titan Gaming, which acquired Xfire last year.
Titan acquired Xfire in August 2010 from media company Viacom, which itself paid $102m for Xfire in 2006. The move coincided with many of Xfire’s original development team leaving the company.
In contrast, Xfire has marked the split from Titan and the new round of financing by appointing a new president, chief marketing officer and director of business development, and has promised ‘several major announcements’ before the end of the year.
Xfire describes itself as ‘Facebook meets Skype for gamers’ and publishes an application enabling gamers to talk to each other from inside an estimated 2,300 PC games. Additionally, Xfire allows gamers to share screenshots, videos and live broadcasts on its service, a service Xfire is now aiming to extend to social networking sites.
Mark Donovan, incoming president of Xfire, said: "This round of capital is allowing us to make many enhancements starting with an entirely new look for the Xfire website and chat application. Intel Capital’s funding will help us take what is already the leader in the space to the next level by continuing to build the team and quickly iterating on our product."