The announcement of a new title set in Middle-earth made Lord of the Rings Online players anxious, and while Standing Stone Games was quick to state that this would not affect the title we can understand players finding that less than comforting. After all, what else could the company say? It’s easy to get carried away in a conspiracy theory where the world is secretly ending but they won’t tell us, this conspiracy goes straight to the top.
You can stop that now, though. Not just because it isn’t true, but because a fan already directly emailed Middle-earth Enterprises on the matter and got a response. The fan was told in no uncertain terms that the company is happy with LOTRO as a game and experience, and there’s no intention to supplant it with the new game. Both can coexist in the same space.Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly Tolkien Enterprises, is the company responsible for licensing the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, which means that they are the people who get the final word on these matters. So your conspiracy theories appear to be invalid… which, let’s face it, is more of a relief than anything.