New Middle-Earth MMO Coming Out from Warframe Developer, Kind Of

If you enjoy Lord of the Rings, then there’s a name you should probably get to know: Middle-earth Enterprises. They’re the company who owns exclusive rights to some of the elements (including names, characters, phrases, and the like) from the extended Tolkien Universe, and if you plan to make anything new in the Tolkien Universe, be it a TV show, a new book, or of course, a video game, you’ll probably need to get their blessing. As Lord of the Ring-gatekeepers, they typically play a more passive role in the development of these products, merely raking in fees and ensuring everything is consistent with the lore. But it seems that’s changing, as they recently announced that they had partnered with Athlon Games, a newly-created publishing division of Digital Extremes' owner Leyou, to create an MMORPG prequel to the Lords of the Rings.

You still with me? Good. Regarding the upcoming project, Middle-earth Enterprises chief brand and licensing officer Fredrica Drotos had this to say:

"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, Athlon’s game will allow millions of Middle-earth fans throughout the world a unique opportunity for fellowship and epic exploration."

If you’re wondering how Athlon Games, a studio you’ve never heard of, got the right to make this MMO, it’s because Leyou, who owns the company they branched out from, worked on Warframe, the popular multiplayer robot-ninja thing. And like Warframe, it looks like this MMO will be a free-to-play game as well, from what little we’ve heard about it so far.

Indeed, other than that, and that it’s set In the past and it will include people, locations, and creatures thus far unseen in the Tolkien universe, there’s not a lot we know about this game just yet. But that's okay, as we could probably assume it’ll be some time before we see anything official regarding this. So it might be better to simply put a pin in it for now.