Report: Peter Jackson displeased with Lord of the Rings games

New York Times says director's unhappiness with EA's movie tie-ins motivated his current partnership with Ubisoft.

As far as movie tie-ins go, Electronic Arts' suite of Lord of the Rings games was a success. Most games based on the multibillion-dollar film trilogy, such as Return of the King and the Battle for Middle-earth, saw critical acclaim and solid sales on both consoles and PCs.

So it came as a surprise to many when Jackson announced that Ubisoft, not EA, would be developing and publishing the game version of his remake of King Kong, due out on December 14. However, the primary reason Jackson, an avid gamer himself, gave was perfectly plausible. He said he wanted to work with Ubisoft producer Michel Ancel after having played the acclaimed but unpopular Beyond Good and Evil.

That said, an article in Monday's edition of the New York Times (subscription required) said Jackson had another motivation for going with Ubisoft: Namely, he didn't like working with EA. The article, which dealt with how filmmakers are becoming increasingly enmeshed in game development, said that Jackson "chafed at his dealings with the industry heavyweight."

The article also quoted Ken Kamins, Jackson's manager, as saying that "Electronic Arts was not interested in input from the filmmaker" but had no problem marketing the games as though he was closely involved in their making. The article made no mention of the fact that all EA Lord of the Rings games featured digital assets and creature designs from the movie trilogy and Jackson's own Weta Workshop (which is beginning work on the Halo film). The games also featured music from the movies' soundtracks, as well as the likenesses and voices of all the Rings films' stars, many of which recorded all-new dialogue.

The Times quotes an EA rep as saying only that the input Jackson was given in the development process was "above and beyond expectations." GameSpot's attempts to elicit further comment on the matter were unsuccessful as of press time.

18 Comments

  • Berianor117

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 10:49 pm PT

    He was going for what he thought would not make fun of his work, like EA did. WTF, they weren't interested in his comments? They should burn in hell, if it weren't for him they would have never made all the money they made with those games.
    And yeah, Jackson makes awesome movies, but what you mean he should stick with that? He has the right to criticize EA's tie-ins of HIS MOVIES. EA should be a little less arrogant and a little more respectful, of us gamers for starters. LOTR Conquest (Jan 2009) is such an awful MEGARUSH job... But I still like it, hey it's Jackson and Tolkien, what can go wrong

  • kanharn

    Posted Jun 17, 2008 2:44 am PT

    Ha ha King kong the game was probley in my top 10 poo games off all time.

    Good eork peter lol

  • houtx1836

    Posted Oct 1, 2007 1:53 pm PT

    Perhaps Jackson should stick with what he does well

  • Pitfiend23

    Posted Jun 25, 2007 12:06 pm PT

    i found rotk game and the movie both cool. King Kong(remake), movie and the game both were not as good as rotk.

  • Annopricam

    Posted Feb 7, 2007 12:51 am PT

    LOTR RULZ. EA SUX. END OF STORY.

  • nmandude

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 6:17 pm PT

    Ubisoft makes awesome games. EA makes crappy games based on franchises that they have the only rights to.

  • jorgeurantia

    Posted Jun 19, 2006 1:47 pm PT

    Ubi-Soft is a classic developer.

  • David600

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 6:01 pm PT

    lot of jackson fanboys in this thread...

  • kighod

    Posted Jun 10, 2006 8:25 pm PT

    EA make terrible games

  • grizly-sword

    Posted May 28, 2006 1:07 pm PT

    The Graphics were a disgrace in the game,

    Ubisoft is way better than EA anyways, and the Halo movie will for sure flaw.

  • nyugfu

    Posted May 15, 2006 6:52 am PT

    I liked the movies (didn't love them), and really despised all the games I tried.

  • gobo212

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 3:23 pm PT

    The EA LoTR games were better than ubisofts King Kong game...

  • Orasion_Seiz

    Posted Jan 28, 2006 3:17 am PT

    i only like the two towers movie and game

  • killa-k

    Posted Jan 13, 2006 11:52 am PT

    i agree with darkside5001 i watched 1 of them can't remember which 1 it was but it was kinda borin'

  • the411monkey

    Posted Jan 13, 2006 11:52 am PT

    Well I can see why, he gave it to EA, I mean come on! They make 56 games a year or so that all suck! Like Catwoman....

  • runyoncolie

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 3:25 pm PT

    i liked the movies and the games...

    But whatever

  • shiftdelete

    Posted Nov 28, 2005 11:55 am PT

    LOL. Nothing too interesting. Never liked THEIR GAMES ANYWAY.

    EA sucks. They are the "Kathy Lee 3rd World Sweatshops" of the video game industry.

  • darkside5001

    Posted Nov 25, 2005 9:57 pm PT

    Lol. nothing to interesting. Never liked his movies anyway.

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