Recently, Athlon Games Studio issued a statement saying that they will team up with Middle-Earth Enterprises to create a free, large-scale, and multiplayer online game based on J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.
Last year, Amazon spent $250 million to obtain the copyright for the Lord of the Rings TV series, and the budget of the TV series will be an astounding $100-150 million per season. Amazon is investing heavily in the TV series with the intention of making this legendary IP shine again. Taking advantage of its inevitable public influence, a brand new Lord of the Rings online game has also begun research and development, aiming to replace the old Lord of the Rings Online.
The game will be set in Middle-Earth of the Lord of the Rings mythology, and the plot will take place before the original main story. A new MMORPG will provide the most immersive and epic gaming experience possible, allowing fans of Middle-Earth to explore the wonders of Tolkien’s fantasy world. However, much like the recent Mordor series of video games, the MMORPG adaptation will also refrain from messing with the canonical lore of Peter Jackson’s original trilogy.
Middle-Earth Enterprises is a division of the Saul Zaentz Company, and is headquartered in Berkeley, California. They also own some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s IP (including Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit). For over forty years, they have been producing and authorizing the production of films and theatre works based around Tolkien’s novels.
Although there is very little information regarding the launch date and gameplay details of the Lord of the Rings MMORPG (the official website has not indicated when it will release more information), it’s very likely that the game will come out at the same time as Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series in 2021. Whether this game will surpass some of the existing Lord of the Rings works and become a masterpiece, only time will tell. Either way, the addition of another entry to the rich lore of the franchise is already a dream come true for the fans.