Prototype via Daedalic Entertainment

The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns exclusive licensing rights to the nigh famous works of J.R.R. Tolkien, including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, is preparing to sell those rights to the highest bidder at auction. This means that the rights to who tin can brand Tolkien games volition be controlled by a new company in the well-nigh future. A company with a lot of cash to throw around, that is — experts approximate that the Tolkien IP is worth at least $2 billion, probably a lot more.

For more than a decade, most major Tolkien games — in particular Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and various LEGO spin-offs — have been been published by Warner Bros., and have been based on Warner's own phenomenally successful Tolkien movies, which were in plough made under license from The Saul Zaentz Company. Warner's games were the subject field of a five-twelvemonth legal battle, somewhen settled in 2022, later on the Tolkien estate argued that Warner's licensing deal only covered movies, and not games.

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Warner has plans for at least two more than Heart-earth games slated for release over the next few years and, while the impending sale is likely to complicate the product and release of those titles, information technology's unlikely to obstruct them.