Turbine Producer Aims for World of Warcraft Numbers, Hints at LotRO Release Date

Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer for Lord of the Rings Online, joined attendees at LotRO Gathering last weekend. His mere presence suprised some attendees- LotROG is in its third year, and this is the first time the event has attracted the Turbine exec. That fact alone suggested that, publicity-wise, LotROG '06 was the game's coming-out party. Steefel's brief address was brief, but surprising. In an era where devs typically concede WoW a market majority, happy just to capture a niche of a few hundred thousand subscribers- Steefel is predicting millions for LotRO and goes on to suggest a tentative release timeline.

"Steefel then offered what could be taken as a surreptitious challenge to Blizzard's numerical supremacy: "So, [the Turbine team is] very excited about looking at this community and imagining a community of millions of people around the world who are going to be in Middle Earth together.""

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