14 DAY TRIAL // Warner Bros. Entertainment has announced that it has acquired developer Turbine, best known for working on the Lord of the Rings Online MMO. The move means Warner Bros. now owns all the videogame creators that are in a position to put out titles linked with the fantasy universe created by Tolkien. The two companies have not talked about how much the transaction was worth but a source close to the deal told the Boston Globe that the price could have reached 160 million dollars.
Last year, Warner Bros. picked up the rights to videogames based on the literature of Tolkien and on the cinematographic adaptation from Electronic Arts. The company also previously invested in Turbine, which was funded by investors like Highland Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital. Warner Bros. has been steadily expanding its videogame-oriented holdings, picking up intellectual property from failed publisher Midway and getting a majority stake in Rocksteady, the developer behind the successful Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The Lord of the Rings Online was launched in 2007 and since then has received two expansions, Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood. The MMO never reached the popularity of market leader World of Warcraft but it offers a solid experience, with regular content patches and with a big enough player base to make the experience fun. Turbine has said that it plans to eventually offer a MMO covering the entirety of Middle Earth, with players able to play any part they are interested in the War of the Ring.
Jim Crowley, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Turbine, stated, “We have been looking to expand access to our online worlds to more players and more markets. This acquisition is very exciting because it allows us to expand globally while continuing to focus on creating spectacular online games that our loyal fans and players have come to expect.”