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More confusion about LOTR-based computer games erupts on Net - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

June 15, 2000 at 19:46:27

Earlier this year we reported that rumors have been circulating concerning trouble with Havas' license to produce a massive multiplayer online Middle-earth game (through the Sierra Online studios). Now word comes from Gamespot that New Line Cinema should be announcing a new interactive game publisher within a month.

The original gaming license was not contracted from New Line Cinema, but from Tolkien Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company. Zaentz purchased media rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in the early 1970s and virtuall all merchandising and film rights to these properties have come from Tolkien Enterprises.

As with the Toy Vault/Toy Biz licensing deals, there may in fact be two licenses in effect. One license would be regarded as the "literary license", as a Toy Vault representative described their license, and the other would be a "film license" tied directly to the New Line Cinema production written and directed by Peter Jackson in New Zealand.

We have heard rumors that several companies are bidding for the gaming license which Havas currently holds. These companies have been focusing on the Internet gaming arena. But "interactive games" may also include single-player games such as are commonly sold through retail outlets. Sierra Studios, in alliance with Berkeley Systems, canelled Orcs: Revenge of the Ancient last year when it temporarily suspended development on the Middle-earth Online game. Orcs: Revenge of the Ancient was to be a single-player game.