After over 7 years, Electronic Arts has now lost the rights to produce Lord of the Rings games.
Though neither company said anything about it, New Line's licensing deal with Electronic Arts for "Lord of the Rings" games expired at the end of last year. Originally set to end in 2007, the two companies agreed on an extension that March until the end of 2008 (the pact also included literary rights holder Tolkien Enterprises).
The last game released under the deal was January's poorly received, soft selling "Lord of the Rings: Conquest" (one of the reasons the game turned out so badly may have been that developer Pandemic had to get it done before EA's rights expired at the end of 2008, though apparently the publisher got a two-week reprieve to release it in early January).
Warner Brothers, the owners of New Line Cinema, now have the rights reverted back to them.
Since EA first got its hands on the "Lord of the Rings" license back in 2001, New Line has transitioned from an independent studio under the Time Warner corporate umbrella to a label for Warner Bros., which now handles most of its business operations. Warner, of course, has its own videogame unit, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, that has grown from a licensing unit to a full-fledged publisher with its own slate of AAA titles.
Warner Bros. owns such companies as Turbine, creators of Lord of the Rings Online, Monolith Productions, creators of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, and Traveller's Tales, creators of the Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones games.
Thoughts?
