Athlon Games has announced in a press release that it has signed a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises to publish a multi-year online AAA game set before the events of The Lord of the Rings. It’ll allow players to explore a world, characters, and creatures “never seen before by fans of the Tolkien universe.”
“It’s a singular opportunity to work closely with Middle-earth Enterprises to create a completely new experience for fans of the landmark fantasy work of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we are excited about the resurgence of interest in The Lord of the Rings IP,” said Athlon Games’ President, Dave Miller. “This, along with several other major properties Athlon is working with, will help us to further our goal of creating AAA cooperative console and PC experiences that gamers will want to play for years to come.”
Athlon Games’ parent company, Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited, owns Warframe developer and publisher Digital Extremes. The press release states that the companies want to use their expertise in free-to-play design and Western development to create a “strong” IP for consoles and PC with a “global appeal.”
The Warframe formula has been a huge success for Digital Extremes. The free-to-play game continues to attract millions of players since launch in 2013, and has its own dedicated annual convention.
We’ll update our readers when we hear more about the upcoming title. In the meantime, let us know what other franchises you’d love to see turned into MMOs. The gallery below includes our selection:
Top MMOs Created for PS4
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Bully
Bully is a guilty pleasure of mine and truly the only Rockstar game I have ever liked. Now just take that school setting and transport it online, and I think it could work.
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Firefly
A Firefly MMO where you can either play the role of smugglers or that of the Alliance. Imagine it sort of like the recent Star Trek MMO, but with a more rowdy crew.
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Fullmetal Alchemist
Alchemists with lots of really cool abilities and plenty of really evil characters to take down in large raids. Not sure how this wouldn't work in a massively multiplayer online setting.
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Gantz
This one could be a cool mix between real life sim and being pulled into the "game." Very dark setting that could go well against a lot of the more colorful MMOs out there.
Very similar to another series on this list.
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Harry Potter
Seriously, how has no one put this into action yet? Pick your house and live your life as an upcoming Wizard at Hogwarts, or decide to open up a shop in Diagon Alley to make your living. This needs to happen!
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Mass Effect
Why would Mass Effect make a great MMO? Why wouldn't it? If it was set between Mass Effect 1 or 2, or even during the two years Shepard was dead, there is so much that could be done in the Milky Way galaxy. You already have a wide variety of race choices, you have class choices, and you have dozens of star systems to explore. You can easily make your own story as a mercenary, a politician, a soldier, or even a free spirit who wants to run a bar on Omega one day and smuggle red sand the next. Creating some sort of overarching plot to connect it all wouldn't be hard for BioWare in the slightest, and they wouldn't even have to touch the looming Reaper threat.
Why isn't this an MMO, again?
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Persona
Similar to Gantz, this could be another MMO where you can sort of hang out, work a job, go on dates, and then go on trips into the Metaverse to take down enemies. It has the perfect world, style, and of course the Persona themselves to make an MMO just work beautifully.
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Rising Stars
I don't read books often, but when I do, Rising Stars by J. Michael Straczynski is one that I always find myself coming back to. A world with super powers and a society that doesn't understand them. This could make for a really gritty and dark MMO.
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Saved by the Bell
You know that you have long dreamed of taking your own avatar into the world of Saved by the Bell. Scanning for chicks with Zack and Slater, going shopping with Lisa and Kelly, or going full nerd in the halls of Bayside with Screech. This would be one time you didn't want that school bell to ring and end the day.
