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EA lording over the Rings until 2008

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Mar 28, 2007 3:50 pm PT

[UPDATE] After months of doubt, the megapublisher announces it is retaining the game rights to the multibillion-dollar film franchise; all-new game coming next year; White Council still "on hold."

Since the beginning of the year, a cloud of doubt has hung over The Lord of Rings game franchise. In February, following weeks of rumors, Electronic Arts executives confessed that The Lord of the Rings: The White Council was "on hold." Since then, many have presumed the next-generation open-world role-playing game had been canceled--and that EA was planning not to renew the LOTR game license.

Today, though, some hope was restored. Electronic Arts has announced that it will indeed retain Lord of Rings game rights through 2008. As before, the deal applies to games based on director Peter Jackson's film trilogy, which has grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. Midway and Turbine's forthcoming massively multiplayer online RPG, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, is based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novels that inspired Jackson's movies.

But while the license announcement was clear, it did spark some confusion by trumpeting the fact that "an all-new title is scheduled for release in 2008." Since no title was mentioned, it was unclear if the game in question was The White Council or an entirely different game.

[UPDATE] However, later in the day, Electronic Arts officially clarified the matter. "The game mentioned is completely new," a rep told GameSpot, "We haven't announced its title or any details yet." As for the White Council? "Its status is unchanged," he said. "It remains on hold."

101 Comments

  • DredWulf

    Posted Feb 5, 2008 1:43 am PT

    you know all you gripers can always just play LOTR online.

  • justletmego

    Posted Jan 26, 2008 7:40 am PT

    I hate how EA thinks they can continually make dissapointing Lord of the Rings games.

    First theres the hack n' slashes, which were pretty fun, but didn't allow to be IN the experience of Lord of the Rings, no exploration of Middle Earth, the battles were hardly as epic as the books or movies.

    Second theres Battle for Middle Earth, which was to me the most disappointing yet. The previews out right lied to its audience, making us think we'd really get to experience Helms Deep and Minas Tirith. But no, instead we end up fighting like 2 urk hai at a time in those battles. It was hardly epic enough.

    And then they tried to make a turn based rpg, which didn't even allow us to play as the Fellowship. Do I need to explain?

    And now they are making yet another cash in. Yes, making a Lord of the rings Rpg is a great idea, but why before the war of the ring? Do they not know what fans want?

    I don't know about you guys, but I want a hack n' slash rpg that lets me explore middle earth, play as all members of the fellowship, follow the story of the Lord of the rings, play as an ent, be a part of a truly epic battle,oh and even play as some characters that aren't in the fellowship (ents anyone?). Oh yea I wanna ride a horse too. Is it so hard to ask for somethings unique and different?

  • justletmego

    Posted Jan 26, 2008 7:36 am PT

    I hope the new game is based on all three movies, only open ended. That would be awesome, I would love to see the Batles of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirth recreated to accomadate next gen capabilities.

  • SpazH3d

    Posted Jan 13, 2008 12:01 pm PT

    I just want another LOTR game. Make it happen, bi**hes.

  • edmusa

    Posted Nov 3, 2007 10:05 pm PT

    i hope this project isn't cancel!! i would love to play a lotr-oblivion game!!...this game could have a 10 if it has good graphics!

  • belwyrm

    Posted Oct 31, 2007 6:28 pm PT

    Blast, another RPG on hold (or cancelled, who can say) that I was looking forward too.....I seriously need a PS3 RPG.....As great as it is, there's really only so many things to do in Oblivion......

  • SexyPorkins

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 11:44 pm PT

    No doubt!

  • lettuceman44

    Posted Sep 3, 2007 6:10 pm PT

    I want info on this!!!!!!

  • face1

    Posted Aug 22, 2007 3:37 pm PT

    this could be one of the best games ever!!!!!!!!!!

  • hahahero

    Posted Aug 12, 2007 6:57 am PT

    lets hope this game gets going soon. its bout time for an open ended lotr game!!!! this is exciting, i cant wait!

  • laifox

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 8:07 pm PT

    nice one...i would really love an oblivion-lotr kinda game, it would be awesome!...hope this new game goes something like that, no more RTS or driven-rpg games....those kinda suck.

  • Saerain

    Posted Jul 12, 2007 10:53 pm PT

    Somehow, this only just came to my attention. I am assuming that 'completely new' means that it is not a continuation of the Battle for Middle-earth franchise.

    I hope that it is for the PC and that they go ahead with the concept of an open-ended RPG.

  • cacaron

    Posted Jun 26, 2007 8:33 am PT

    I want a lord of the rings oblivion type game. Who never dreams to be aragorn on the deeping wall of Helm's deep and do what YOU want in this battle.

  • Josephus05

    Posted Jun 23, 2007 9:16 pm PT

    Aye! I would love to have an Oblivion type LOTR game. I love Tokien's works and the Elder Scrolls. Two things that I have been able to jump in amd get lost in for a long time. The melding of the two would be great. I curently play LOTRO. At times I love it at times not so much....we shall see as I am not too far into it. But it is a beautiful game hands down.

  • Jonny_13

    Posted Jun 8, 2007 5:40 pm PT

    i agree with a bunch of guys here who dont wanna play LOTRO, in fact all that non-jackson LoTR stuff is pretty shoddy, i think its just some guy who thinks his vision of Tolkiens world is just so much better and it clearly is NOT.

  • leon_trunks

    Posted May 13, 2007 6:38 am PT

    I'm rotting in pain as I wait for an LOTR game. I'm not that interested in the LOTRO, for that, I'll need to spend a whole lot more on the PC Upgrades first.

  • Shadow_Fire41

    Posted May 8, 2007 3:07 pm PT

    heres an idea, ACTUALLY RELEASE SOMETHING THIS YEAR, NOT NEXT YEAR!

  • DChy

    Posted May 6, 2007 8:45 am PT

    They're saying it's on hold but I still have this feeling that it's going to be cancelled.

  • xTheExploited

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 9:58 am PT

    I want The White Council so badly. It sounds so good. I've been waiting for a good LotR RPG to come out because it would make such a good one.

  • cborowik

    Posted Apr 8, 2007 1:03 pm PT

    I like battle for middle earth 2 on my 360, not too big on RPG's

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