Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

EA Secures Lord of the Rings Book Rights

Digital Trends Staff
By

Haven’t gotten enough Lord of the Rings recently between the extended DVD versions and the video games on multiple platforms? EA is betting you haven’t as they announced today they had secured the rights to publish titles based upon the original printed version.

Under the deal, EA said, the video game publisher has secured the rights from Tolkien Enterprises to develop titles based which flow directly from the world created by the famous author in his books. This is in addition to the rights they’ve already secured to create games based upon the New Line films.

Recommended Videos

Also unveiled were the first two titles which flow from this expansion of EA’s Lord of the Rings publishing rights. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, to be published on the PC, follows upon the success of the first RTS in this series. The game will allow players to engage in the usual epic fantasy battles, utilizing Elven and Dwarven armies plus heroes and creatures which were never seen in the film version.

Related

For Playstation Portable fans, EA announced The Lord of the Rings Tactics. This tactical strategy game, the company said, puts players in the Middle-earth universe as either the Fellowship or as a force of the Shadow. It features player-customized characters and a system of items, upgrades and skills. The Lord of the Rings Tactics will draw upon famous locations of the books and films and allows wireless competition.

“The new rights have unlocked the world of Middle-earth for The Lord of the Rings and strategy game fans alike. We’re building a deeper, richer, bigger game based on the #1 RTS from the previous holiday season in North America with new fantasy races, places, heroes, and battles from both the books and films,” said Mike Verdu, Senior Producer of The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth at EA.

“Now that we are expanding our Lord of the Rings universe to encompass Tolkien’s books, we’ll be able to combine the visual impact of the films with those complex stories,” said Steve Gray, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Tactics at EA. “The RPG genre, in particular, is a great medium for story telling. We are delving into unexplored depths of Tolkien’s works to deliver new, compelling and immersive experiences. The Lord of the Rings Tactics gives RPG fans a first look at how we will do this.”

Editors' Recommendations

Digital Trends Staff
Digital Trends Staff
Digital Trends has a simple mission: to help readers easily understand how tech affects the way they live. We are your…
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will finally release this May
Gollum from The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

Daedelic Entertainment and Nacon's The Lord of the Rings: Gollum finally has a new release date. After a couple of delays, the unique Lord of the Rings game now has a May 25 release date. This news came alongside a new story trailer for the game, which teases the characters and enemies the titular character will encounter over the course of their adventure, like Gandalf and an emissary of Sauron.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ | Story Trailer
This game will provide a more in-depth look at Gollum's perspective on the events of the Lord of the Rings saga than we've seen before, and it looks and plays much differently than any other Lord of the Rings games before it. Combat is deemphasized; instead, players will spend their time climbing around recognizable Lord of the Rings locales, stealth-killing enemies that get in their way, and making multiple choices between what Gollum and what Smeagol want to do. 
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was first announced in 2020 with a 2021 release window. It didn't come out that year and was pushed back to 2022. Things were shaping up nicely for a September 1, 2022 launch, but Daedelic Entertainment delayed it indefinitely just over a month before release so the developers could deliver "the best possible experience." While they said it was only going to be delayed "by a few months" at a time, fans will have waited nearly nine extra months by the time it releases.  
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 25. A Nintendo Switch version is also in development, but it still has a vaguer "later this year" release window.

Read more
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is the right Soulslike for a post-Elden Ring world
Nor prepares to fast travel in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is one of the most exciting Soulslikes on the horizon in this post-Elden Ring world. While it’s hard for games in that genre to impress in the wake of FromSoftware’s mighty open-world adventure, Flintlock hopes to stand out with its unique “gunpowder fantasy” aesthetic that trades high fantasy for the titular flintlock pistol and other early technology.
“We definitely consider Flintlock to be a Soulslike, and there are plenty of inspirations from Elden Ring,” Game Director Hayden Asplet explained in a press event.
Digital Trends got a hands-off look at around 15 minutes of new footage from the game and spoke to the developers about their ambition for this gunpowder fantasy Soulslike. While Art Director Robert Bruce made it clear that Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn’s gunpowder fantasy is “unique and its own thing,” he also said that “when we come out, I think that players will be ready for that next Elden Ring experience and we’ll have a lot of that there for them.”

Flintlock Fantasy
The portion I saw started at a caravan where protagonist Nor and her magical fox-like companion Enki can speak to NPCs and upgrade and craft items. Before long, she was on a quest to investigate a nearby keep. From the immediate first glance, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn’s unique aesthetic and setting are noticeable. It doesn’t quite feel like it is set during the renaissance or in a steampunk world, but technology -- mostly powered by gunpowder -- is slowly starting to creep its way into more and more things.
Some factions resist this change, while others like Nor embrace it on their personal quest to take down the gods. This even bleeds over into movement, as Nor can even use explosive black powder to do a double-jump flip in the air and occasionally dash to certain areas with Enki. That gives Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn some platforming elements, as players can use those techniques to find secret items that help in the adventure.
Soon enough, Nor and Enki found themselves in combat against some enemies. Nor smoothly flowed from enemy to enemy with decisive axe strikes and well-timed and powerful gunshots. Enki occasionally helped out with some magical attacks that exposed enemies to further attacks, too. Combat seems like it will constantly feel fresh thanks to each tool and how they interact with one another. Guns are powerful and getting kills with them increases Nor's armor, but bullets can only be gained by killing enemies with the axe. As such, it’s clear that players can’t spam moves if they want the best results in a fight.

Read more
Embracer Group continues buying spree, adds Lord of the Rings IP, game studios
embracer group lord of the rings acqusition

Video game giant Embracer Group has obtained the rights for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien through its acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises. The holdings company also acquired multiple other gaming studios to form its new group, Embracer Freemode.

Embracer Group has made major acquisitions recently, positioning it as one of gaming's biggest forces. It made headlines earlier this year when it acquired Square Enix's Western studios, obtaining the IP rights to franchises like Deus Ex. Now, the company holds the rights to the Lord of the Ring series -- not just the rights to publish video games based on the franchise, but the entire IP.

Read more