the Swedish games conglomerate, Daybreak Games is planning “visual and technical updates” for LoTRO so the game will be looking fresh following the release of the Amazon series; perhaps in the hope that it will be reaching a whole new legion of fans. The update announcement also alluded to next generation consoles so it looks as though the game will finally be making its way onto those platforms (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).
The subject of who owns the publishing and licensing rights for LoTRO has, for some inexplicable reason, been something of a mystery for a few years now. While there were rumours that Daybreak Games were now in the driving seat over at Standing Stone Games nothing has ever been officially announced. When EG7 declared that they had acquired Daybreak Games in December 2020, the mystery was finally laid to rest. It was also announced that Daybreak had, in fact, obtained the publishing and licensing rights for SSG’s titles LoTRO and Dungeons & Dragons Online, both relative veterans on the MMO market. No explanation for the communications black out was forthcoming.
To some, it may seem strange to start investing significant time and money into a game that is fast approaching its 14th anniversary; but if you look at the numbers involved, perhaps it will seem less so. It is currently Daybreak’s third biggest title (behind DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2) with 108,000 monthly active users, 41,000 of whom are paying subscribers bringing in approximately $9.9m per annum. Plus, when you factor in the possibility of new-to-the-franchise fans (thanks to the TV series) looking for a gaming fix based in Middle Earth, bringing the aging MMO up to date makes serious commercial sense.
Interestingly, there is also another [unrelated] Middle Earth based MMO being developed by the Amazon Games Studios; the fact that it is Free-to-Play and that it is set a couple of hundred years before the events in LoTRO are all that we know about that title at the present time. There is also the platform-based ‘The Lord of The Rings: Gollum’ scheduled to release on PC and next-gen consoles sometime this year. So, there is a lot for Tolkien fans and gamers to look forward to. Personally, as a 14-year on-and-off veteran, I will be sticking with LoTRO for the foreseeable future and it gives me hope that the publishers are willing to invest in updating the game.
LoTRO, it appears, is here to stay. For a while at least.
Do you have plans on picking up the Lord of The Rings Online? Have you played before and plan on coming back? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
WRITTEN BY: Saelanna
EDITED BY: Silek
