But Miller noted that Athlon has been granted rights to the full text of The Lord of the Rings, which has appendices that reference some of the events in those works. He pointed out that some of the licensing is controlled by the Tolkien estate, which is in charge of later publications such as Unfinished Tales, The Simarillion, and The Fall of Gondolin. In interview with GamesBeat, Miller offered some clarification on the licensing deal. All of the licenses we have seen in video games to date have come from this middleman, Middle-earth Enterprises, and not the Tolkien estate controlled by Christopher Tolkien. United Artists sold them to the Saul Zaentz Company in 1976, which is now Middle-earth Enterprises. Back in 1968, Tolkien sold the film, stage, and merchandising rights to United Artists in 1968.
However, before fans of The Simarillion get their hopes up, you’ll have to understand how complex the licensing is. “Athlon’s game will allow millions of Middle-earth fans throughout the world a unique opportunity for fellowship and epic exploration.”
“We are extremely pleased to work with Athlon Games to create a new, immersive game experience, exploring epic regions in Middle-earth during the years leading to the events of The Lord of the Rings,” said Fredrica Drotos, chief brand and licensing officer at Middle-earth Enterprises, in a statement. For instance, this deal for games comes on the heels of Amazon announcing last year it had a multiyear deal to do a TV show based on The Lord of the Rings in an estimated $250 million deal. The game will focus on areas outside what we’ve seen in the books or films, and that shows some thawing in what the Tolkien license owners are willing to do when it comes to more actively licensing entertainment such as games or other media.
Learn more about what comes next.Īthlon Games, a Los Angeles publisher of console and PC games, said it signed a long-term licensing agreement with Middle-earth Enterprises to develop and publish a free-to-play online game based on The Lord of the Rings.Īthlon Games is working with a partner developer to create an online game set in the world of Middle-earth at a time long before the events of The Lord of the Rings, but in the same universe as that created by author J.R.R. Join gaming leaders online at GamesBeat Summit Next this upcoming November 9-10.
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