Online Game Engine Maker GaimTheory Funded/Gets New CEO With the game industry's main event E3 winding up, PEwire is reporting that venture firms pulled back on gaming investments in 2006 despite big exits early in the year. Investment dollars dropped nearly 38% in 2006 to $137M, down from the $219M in 2005 and PEWire expects to see another drop off at the end of 2007, based on anecdotal evidence. We agree with PEWire's analysis that the trend is odd. There are several trends going the way of online gaming including the huge success of massive multiplayer games, surging growth of casual and mobile games, and the high valuations of in-game ad networks. With that intro, today's game funding news is that multiplayer game developer GaimTheory has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Momentum Venture Management. GaimTheory says on its site that it has invested millions of dollars to develop its platform. Momentum partner Stuart MacFarlane has been named GaimTheory's new CEO. MacFarlane is managing director at Momentum and was previously the CEO of InsiderPages, a user review site that was bought recently by CitySearch.
