Thu, Mar 12, 2009 | 16:18 GMT

Rumor: Warner takes Lord of the Rings away from EA

frodocry

Warner has taken the gaming rights contracted to EA back for the Lord of the Rings franchise according to Variety, and has no plans to renew the contract.

Originally, the license was set to expire at the end of March 2007, but was extended through 2008 so EA could finish up LotR: Conquest. The deal was also signed by Tolkien Enterprises.

It’a been suggested that the reason Conquest was generally panned was due to EA rushing Pandemic to finish before the contract expired. However, now Warner is itself becoming a major player in the game industry, it is safe to assume that any console releases will be handled by them in the future, says that report.

A Warner Bros rep declined to comment to Variety, but it is worth noting that Warner holds the rights to the Harry Potter franchise too — and that EA’s contract for all games muggle- and wizard-related doesn’t expire until 2011.

6 comments

Johnny Cullen
12/03/09, 4:40 pm

Great story pic XD

SticKboy
12/03/09, 5:04 pm

20 quid says it goes to Activision.

rainer
12/03/09, 5:20 pm

I’d wonder is there any interest still in the LoTR franchise among gamers ?

hitnrun
12/03/09, 5:57 pm

The more appropriate question is, “is there any interest still among developers?”

Fortunately or unfortunately, the answer seems to be yes, to judge by LOTR Conquest and such.

Other sites have been floating the idea that Warner will keep the license as part of their attempt to branch into videogames.

cachucha
12/03/09, 10:04 pm

well with the new movie coming up, its a good pick up for warner

Veber0411
26/03/09, 4:19 pm

HI. There is a new lord of the rings quiz on the internet, which will be a big competition in fact. Almost 100 registered users, and when it reaches 100, the contest begins. All lord of the rings fans are welcome on lordoftheringsquiz.com.