EA is making a Lord of the Rings mobile ‘collectible RPG’

By DeAngelo Epps May 9, 2022

A new Lord of the Rings game is on the way to mobile devices thanks to a new partnership between EA and Middle-Earth Enterprises, a division of The Saul Zaentz Company. The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth is a free-to-play “Collectible RPG” that EA plans to add to its live service portfolio.

Tease image from EA's upcoming LOTR mobile game. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

This new partnership comes shortly after the Lord of the Rings gaming and movie rights went on sale by Zaentz Co., the rights holder of the series. This is the first major Lord of the Rings gaming project to emerge since then.

The title features “immersive storytelling, turn-based combat, deep collection systems, and a wide roster of characters from across the vast universe of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.” EA’s press release also states that the game is solely inspired by the depiction of Middle-earth as it’s described in the actual Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The blog goes into detail about more things to expect from Heroes of Middle-earth like high-fidelity graphics, cinematic animations, and stylized art. However, not much has been disclosed beyond those details, with no gameplay or images of the actual game being shared.

If the word “collectible” has you nervous in the NFT era (especially after EA called them “the future of our industry“), don’t worry: EA confirmed to Digital Trends that the game will not feature NFT integration.

With rarely any hard details shared, it’s no surprise that The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth doesn’t have a release window just yet. However, EA is aiming to launch a limited best test this summer.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

De'Angelo Epps is a gaming writer passionate about the culture, communities, and industry surrounding gaming. His work ranges…

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Gollum stares at a cruel woman in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

The developer and publisher behind The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Daedalic Entertainment, laid off its internal development staff so it can focus on game publishing going forward.

Daedalic Entertainment made a name for itself by developing and publishing a lot of adventure games and RPGs in the 2010s. It developed series like Deponia and Blackguards and published games like Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Inkulinati. Nacon acquired Daedalic in February 2022, ahead of the release of what was supposed to be its most ambitious title, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. When the game finally came out in May 2023 after multiple delays, it was a train wreck.
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"Daedalic Entertainment has made the decision to close its development department, with full focus now on our publishing business. Eight promising releases will be launching in this financial year alone," a spokesperson for Daedalic said. "Even though The Lord of the Rings: Gollum did not live up to the expectations we had for the game, we are very grateful for the opportunity and the learning experience it brought us."
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"Currently, we are working on another patch for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum," the spokesperson continued. "A follow-up project in The Lord of the Rings universe that has already been started will be discontinued. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, as the body responsible for the federal funding, was informed of this some time ago. We value each and every member of our team very much, and it is important to us that the transition goes as well as possible. We will therefore support our former employees in finding new opportunities within our network. A difficult break, but also a new beginning in the already long history of Daedalic Entertainment."
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch.

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