Electronic Arts is getting back into the Lord of the Rings video game business, today announcing a partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises for a new mobile title.
EA’s Capital Games, the studio behind the billionaire Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, is developing a free-to-play title called The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth. It is a collectible role-playing game that aims to offer a “strategic and social-competitive experience”.
EA Mobile executive Malachi Boyle said in a statement that Heroes of Middle-earth will include “High-fidelity graphics, cinematic animations and stylized art“. The game will feature fan-favorite characters from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, EA said, although none have been definitively named.
Middle-earth Enterprises executive Fredrica Drotos said: “We are thrilled to be working with EA once again, this time to bring a mobile game exclusively inspired by Middle-earth…“
EA has made many Lord of the Rings games in the past, including The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 1 and 2, The Lord of the Rings: Tactics, and The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. . The company also developed the film tie-in games released around the time of Two Towers and Return of the King in the early 2000s.
EA’s new partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises was announced today, shortly after it was reported that Middle-earth Enterprises’ parent company, Saul Zentz Co., was holding an auction for The Lord of the Rings video game rights. It appears that EA was among the successful bidders, although it is possible that this transaction predates this auction process.
Either way, Heroes of Middle-earth is a turn-based game with storytelling elements, “deep” collection systems, and a “wide roster” of characters from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. “Players fight through iconic stories from the world of Tolkien and take on the fight against the great evils of Middle-earth,” EA said in its announcement.
Heroes of Middle-earth isn’t the only new Lord of the Rings game in the works. Daedalic is developing a Gollum-focused game for release this year. Additionally, the long-running MMO Lord of the Rings Online is still going strong, recently hitting its highest player count in 10 years, thanks in part to its 15th anniversary event. Outside of gaming, Amazon’s long-awaited Lord of the Rings TV show debuts September 2 on Prime Video.
This article is a translation of the writing by Eddie Bullion to the website GameSpot.
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