Russian MMO company Nival Network closed a $5 million round of funding from an undisclosed investor, which will go toward the development of Prime World, an online strategy game with social networking elements.

The studio develops, publishes, and operates both subscription-based and free-to-play online titles for Russia and former Soviet countries. Its MMORPG portfolio includes Cabal Online, Khan Wars 2.0, Shaiya, Dragonica, and many others.

Established in September 2008, Nival has development studios in Moscow and Minsk. The company is majority owned by CEO and founder Sergey Orlovskiy, who revealed the investment round to local newspaper Vedomosti newspaper (reported by Quintara). Russian software vendor 1C Company also owns a 30 percent stake in Nival.

It's unclear what social networking features the developer plans to include with Prime World, but it's possible the MMO will hook into Nival's gaming and social networking portal Zzima.com. You can see screenshots for the title after the break.

Russia's online games market is expected to reach $238 million in 2009, with MMOs accounting for $210 million and casual games taking up $28 million of that total, according to estimates from Russian firm iKS-Consulting.