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The Road to Mordor: Could Lord of the Rings Online end in 2014?
Almost two years ago, Star Wars Galaxies players were rocked to their core by the news that their virtual world was to be sunsetted at the end of the year. Despite obvious SOE love for the title and player petitions, the call was already made: LucasArts didn't want to renew the contract with SOE, and that was that. Because of an IP, an entire galaxy was lost. It's one of the "cons" of IP-based MMOs. Because there is licensing and contracts and other legal mumbo-jumbo involved, an online game that is completely wedded to an intellectual property has the added danger of being shut down completely if the IP is denied to the studio. SWG is a sobering lesson as to how this can happen to an otherwise healthy game. If you haven't noticed already, Lord of the Rings Online is somewhat inspired by a certain IP. This IP can survive without the game, but the opposite is not true. So the scary question that we'd rather not ask is this: What if Turbine loses the rights have its game set in the Lord of the Rings universe? It's not an unreasonable question. And what makes it even scarier is that it could conceivably happen as early as next year.
The Road to Mordor: Will our journey take us back to The Hobbit?
The next few years promise to be exciting ones for fans of Middle-earth. Ever since The Return of the King debuted in theaters in 2003, audiences have clamored for more of Tolkien on the big screen -- specifically, The Hobbit. After nearly a decade of back-and-forth negotiating and legal entanglements, it appears that this The Hobbit movies are finally going to happen, with Sir Peter Jackson once again in the director's chair and Martin Freeman taking on the lead role as Bilbo. That's smashing news for movie buffs, but what does this have to do with Lord of the Rings Online -- y'know, that MMO we sometimes talk about in this column? It could be "very little," with Turbine proceeding on its merry way and perhaps enjoying the free boost to playership as movie buffs hunt around for a game to extend the experience. However, if the company were smart, it would be laying out the groundwork right now to synergize the heck out of the movie with a similar in-game experience. For a while now, I've been chewing on the notion that Turbine could incorporate the events, locations and characters of The Hobbit into LotRO -- in fact, several of the key pieces are already in place. Could our journey in LotRO eventually take us back to the era of Bilbo's grand adventure? How would such a thing even work? Hit the jump and I will smack your brain so hard with ideas that you'll forget all of your piano lessons. It's OK -- you didn't really need them.
LOTS more LotRO to come; Turbine extends LotR license
We've had punters out there guess at just how long Lord of the Rings Online might be able to last, as well as one particularly detailed and precise look at how Tolkien's Middle-earth might unfold over the years, but Turbine has now given official confirmation that they are in it for the long haul. A new press release (posted in full after the break) sent to us from Turbine's PR company states that they have extended their license agreements with Tolkien Enterprises for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit until 2014, with the rights to claim them all the way up to 2017 if they so choose.The president and CEO of Turbine, Jim Crowley, affirmed his faith in the license -- and honestly, it's not a bad horse to back -- saying, "With the recent announcement of what are sure to be two blockbuster films based on The Hobbit and a sequel, we expect the success of the license and our relationship with Tolkien Enterprises to grow for years to come." Only time will tell whether Turbine can give LotRO and associated games legs until 2014 (or 2017!), but with this agreement under their belts they can develop away for the foreseeable future. Hit the jump to read the press release in its entirety.
