The Lord of the Rings Rights Revert to Warner Bros.
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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).Spotted on Blue's News.
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.
So, you own a major publisher... you just got back the interactive rights to one of the top entertainment properties in the world... Can you guess where I'm going? It's a safe bet that Warner Bros. won't be licensing out "Lord of the Rings" again. Instead, based on logic and what some sources have told me, expect Warner Bros. to start producing "Lord of the Rings" games itself soon (whether they're based solely on its films, or also stuff from the books, will depend whether it makes a deal with Tolkien Enterprises).
