by Stacy Jones on Jul 11, 2013
This week the devs over at Turbine took up another collection of questions from The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) community. The 20 selected questions cover a broad range of topics such as improvements to the PvMP region, the animation process for horses, tuning and developing instances, quests, and landscapes, and, of course, the much more.
One of the big questions on the list is about a concern that has been growing in recent months. With any licensed game there is the possibility that at some point that license will end and not be renewed. When that happens, the game will pretty much go poof. Suffice to say, this is a concern of many players and one that came up in the questions. The response from LOTRO Community Manager Rick Sapience Heath as well as the question to follow:
Q16: Given player concerns about the license and Turbine's relationship with Saul Zaentz/Middle-earth Enterprises, can you say anything about LOTRO ending in 2014 as some have predicted?
A16: We plan to support LOTRO for many more years to come. We are very fortunate in that we enjoy a great relationship with Middle-earth Enterprises. They visit our offices several times a year to check out our upcoming plans for LOTRO and continue to be very supportive. Sapience
Obviously thats not exactly an answer, but if it will make my fellow players feel better, the original deal to license the rights through 2014 also included the option to extend it through 2017, so no need to panic just yet, especially since Sapience seems to indicate that that option may have been exercised already in the answer as well as a follow-up post to clarify speculation about the question above.
Source: LOTRO Q&A