Middle-earth in video games

• 1. Text Adventures Begin

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  Melbourne House released The Hobbit in 1982, marking the start of a licensed video game series based on J. R. R. Tolkien's works. This title featured interactive characters that moved between locations independent of the player. It also included an 'Inglish' text parser capable of accepting full-sentence commands instead of simple two-word verb/noun inputs. The studio followed this success with The Fellowship of the Ring in 1986 and Shadows of Mordor in 1987. They continued releasing titles like The Crack of Doom in 1989 before shifting to real-time strategy games such as War in Middle Earth in 1987. Konami entered the market with Riders of Rohan, an action-strategy game released around the same time. Parker Brothers announced Lord of the Rings: Journey to Rivendell for the Atari 2600 in 1983 but never released it. A prototype ROM exists today at AtariAge. Interplay collaborated with Electronic Arts to release Lord of the Rings Vol. I in 1990 and Vol. II: The Two Towers in 1991. These role-playing games appeared primarily on PC and Amiga systems. Troika Games was contracted by Sierra On-Line in 2000 to create another game based on the novel. Sierra decided to develop the project internally in 2001. The game was cancelled in 2002 when Sierra shut down their development studio.

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• 2. Licensing Wars Erupt

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  Electronic Arts obtained licenses for Peter Jackson's film trilogy while Vivendi Games secured rights to produce games based directly on Tolkien's books from Tolkien Enterprises. This created a unique situation where EA produced adaptations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King without covering The Fellowship of the Ring. Vivendi produced a game covering only the first volume of Tolkien's work using book material not present in the films. EA could not include elements absent from the movies due to their licensing restrictions. In 2003, Vivendi released an adaptation of The Hobbit aimed at younger audiences alongside War of the Ring, a real-time strategy game. Further spin-offs included The Battle for Middle-earth and The Third Age in 2004. Tactics launched exclusively for PSP in 2005. EA secured rights to both films and books in 2005 allowing The Battle for Middle-earth II to incorporate original lore alongside film adaptations. Work began on an open world role-playing video game called The White Council but it was put on indefinite hold in early 2007. Turbine Inc announced exclusive rights to create massively multiplayer online role-playing games in May 2005. They launched The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar on the 24th of April 2007.

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• 3. MMO Expansions Grow

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  The Lord of the Rings Online initially covered Eriador stretching from Grey Havens to Misty Mountains. Subsequent updates doubled the game world to include Moria, Lothlórien, Mirkwood, Isengard, and Rohan. Turbine's license explicitly prohibited including story or design elements unique to movie adaptations. This allowed designers to add lesser-known areas absent from the films. The first expansion Mines of Moria arrived on the 18th of November 2008. Siege of Mirkwood followed on the 1st of December 2009. Rise of Isengard went live on the 27th of September 2011 adding Dunland, Gap of Rohan, and Orthanc tower. Riders of Rohan released on the 15th of October 2012 featuring The Eaves of Fangorn and eastern Rohan up to East Wall. Helm's Deep launched in November 2013 completing the Rohan landscape. Conquest produced by Pandemic Studios used the same engine as Star Wars: Battlefront. It released in early 2009 on PC and seventh-generation systems excluding Wii and PSP. All versions received mixed reviews with Nintendo DS garnering slightly better scores. Metacritic results show varying reception across platforms. The game marked the end of Electronic Arts' license which had been extended months earlier for completion.

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• 4. Action RPGs Return

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  Warner Bros gained the license to publish Middle-earth video games after Warner Bros Games lost rights following the sale of Middle-earth Enterprises to Embracer Group. Aragorn's Quest became the first title under this new holder appearing on Nintendo and Sony platforms. Motion controls simulated sword, shield, and bow combat on Wii and PlayStation 3 versions. Three darker and more violent games rated Mature by the ESRB emerged during the 2010s. War in the North developed by Snowblind Studios released on the 1st of November 2011 taking place in Northern Middle-earth. Monolith Productions created a two-game non-canon spin-off series set between Hobbit and Lord of the Rings events. Talion serves as main protagonist bonding with Elf spirit Celebrimbor gaining wraith-like powers against adversaries. Shadow of Mordor launched in 2014 while Shadow of War followed in 2017. Lego adaptations included The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey plus Desolation of Smaug. Adventure Card Game arrived in 2019 as first digital version available on Nintendo Switch. These titles represented a shift toward mature storytelling within the franchise.

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• 5. Publisher Shifts Occur

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  Unofficial games include Shadowfax released in 1982 by Postern as simplistic side-scrolling action game for Spectrum, C64, and VIC-20. Gandalf rides titular steed smiting endless Nazgûl throughout gameplay. Moria roguelike based loosely on Fellowship of Ring emerged in 1983 unrelated to 1975同名 game. Various forks like Angband appeared in 1990 loosely based on Silmarillion. Elendor launched in 1991 as MUSH based on Tolkien general lore. Two MUDs followed: MUME Multi-Users in Middle-earth in 1992 and The Two Towers in 1994. Adam Thornton created homebrew text adventure for Atari 2600 based on Fellowship of Ring self-published in 2002 separate from unreleased Parker Brothers project. Mods and custom maps exist for Heroes of Might Magic Warcraft III Neverwinter Nights Rome Total War Medieval 2 Total War Warlords 3 Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Mount Blade Age Empires II Age Wonders Minecraft servers MCME and ArdaCraft recreate Middle-earth extensively. Lord of the Rings Mod brings world into Minecraft engine. Middle-Earth DEM Project released playable dataset compiled for Outerra modeling terrain full Middle-earth great detail featuring notable landmarks as 3D models. Delta 4

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• 6. Fan Projects Persist

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  released parody games Bored of the Rings in 1985 and Boggit in 1986.

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