The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

by RiverBGould
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The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

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The Battle For Middle Earth Is About To Begin (Again)

 

As a massive fan of the franchise I urge EA to revamp The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth I + II. 

 

These games were my first real-time strategy games I could fall in love with, I am certain I am not the only one who feels this way. The games were different, hard, progressive, but most of all fun! The games made you think, and were a challenge, however you’d sit back and find hours gone by without realising. 

 

With the hardware and software we have today you could revamp the game so much you wouldn’t recognise it! My toaster could probably run the first ever Battle For Middle Earth! 😂 Think about it for a second; 4K graphics? I’d give my left arm to see that introduced! 

 

Recently I have misplaced my hardcopies of the games. So I spoke to EA help (which is a 10/10 service), and after countless attempts my advisors could not find the game backed up on their servers. At this point my heart dropped as I found out I could not play my favourite childhood game ever again. Especially after owning the £100 worth collectors edition of BFME 2. All they could find was the DLC, Rise Of The Witchking. 

 

I have been looking to see if there was any progress on this game for nearly 5 years now. And my expression saddens to see the game turning into a relic. An experience most people will not get to have again. 

 

Most of the Advisors I spoke to on the EA Helpline had said they were; “A huge fan of the game as well”. And every forum or YouTube video I have seen of people requesting this game to arise has always had the same answer, “The license ended, and Warner Bros has it now”. 

 

Even if that were the case, is there no way you could make a section on Origin that has old time classics such as this franchise ready for digital download? 

 

Comment what you think! 

 

Thank you for reading,

R.Gould

 

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Re: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

Community Manager

Hey @RiverBGould sorry to say but as far as I am aware there are no plans to bring back The Battle for Middle Earth titles.


EA no longer has the license to these titles so it is not possible to just put them out.


Best thing to do would be to contact Warner Bros. to see if they have any plans to re-master or re-release the games.

 

Darko

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Re: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

Community Manager

Hey @RiverBGould sorry to say but as far as I am aware there are no plans to bring back The Battle for Middle Earth titles.


EA no longer has the license to these titles so it is not possible to just put them out.


Best thing to do would be to contact Warner Bros. to see if they have any plans to re-master or re-release the games.

 

Darko

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Re: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

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@EA_Darko wrote:

EA no longer has the license to these titles so it is not possible to just put them out.


@EA_Darko, I don't think this is true. EA never lost BFME titles license, only LOTR license. Even on the official Middle-earth Enterprises website EA is listed as one of current licensees.

 

 

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Re: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

@czembro Middle Earth Enterprises admitted that they did not updated their webpage since long. Just check the links for other products there and see how many are defunct. While EA is still listed, Warner owns everything videogames/movies/products rights now. The only thing that they still do not own are the books rights. 


And the games ARE named Lord of The Rings....so, how does that sit with your affirmation?! Warner has the rights for the whole Middle Earth universe for videogames/movies/products. Maybe, you've missed their Middle Earth series or the fact that they've made some Hobbit movies and are preparing Silmarillion. As Warner was a pretty big corp (much bigger than EA) and part of the AT&T Warner Media consortium, EA can't even dream to compete in a license auction.

 

Also, EA is focusing on their own IP's, as they've already had lost anumber of IP's that they've had for some time, making them even more popular, just to not be able to renew those IP's (Harry Potter, Dune, James Bond, Godfather, NCAA are some examples of such happenings). 

 

You are not the first to check the Middle Earth Enterprises page, but the site admins seem completely unaware where the license is now. Otherwise, all those dead link would have been removed and the site would have been updated properly. 

 

I do not work for EA and i am not associated with the company in any way. I am a player just like you, trying to help wherever i can.I will not answer to any unsolicited PM.

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Re: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

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@ivrognard wrote:

@czembro Middle Earth Enterprises admitted that they did not updated their webpage since long. Just check the links for other products there and see how many are defunct. While EA is still listed, Warner owns everything videogames/movies/products rights now. The only thing that they still do not own are the books rights.

 

(...)

 

You are not the first to check the Middle Earth Enterprises page, but the site admins seem completely unaware where the license is now. Otherwise, all those dead link would have been removed and the site would have been updated properly. 

 


First of all, I've never heard or seen any statement from MEE, admitting they haven't updated the page. If you have any sources of this information, please share. Second, the site was recently updated, at least in layout, and literally only two links from licensees page don't work.

 

 


@ivrognard wrote:


And the games ARE named Lord of The Rings....so, how does that sit with your affirmation?! Warner has the rights for the whole Middle Earth universe for videogames/movies/products. Maybe, you've missed their Middle Earth series or the fact that they've made some Hobbit movies and are preparing Silmarillion. As Warner was a pretty big corp (much bigger than EA) and part of the AT&T Warner Media consortium, EA can't even dream to compete in a license auction.

 


The games are named Battle for Middle-earth, but they are a part of Lord of the Rings franchise. As such, the EA can't sell these games, as they don't hold the rights to sell anything LOTR related, but it doesn't mean that they don't hold rights to BFME, which is their own title. If the BFME rights would be automatically transferred with LOTR rights (which seems you are implying) then there would be no problem with WB releasing this titles under their brand or making the sequel. But as EA holds rights to title they have produced, there are only three ways for BFME franchise to come back:

  1. EA would sell BFME rights to WB (or future license holder),
  2. WB (or future license holder) would struck a deal with EA and give them a permission to once again publish BFME games,
  3. EA would acquire LOTR rights once again.

 

 

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Re: The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth Franchise Revisited

@czembro The BFME games are made on EA proprietary tech. I doubt that any sane company would share that. Also, Middle Earth is not owned by EA. Warner has the rights for everything LOTR, Middle Earth included. Also, check the value of Warner and then compare with EA value. It's public data. I seriously doubt that Middle Earth Enterprises would switch from Warner that brings them a large chunks of profits to a smaller company like EA. 

 

Since Warner took over the license over 9 years ago, EA stopped selling anything LOTR. Be it console, PC or mobile. If they could have brought it back, they would have done so, by now. Our only chance is your number 2: Warner and EA striking a deal where EA would be able to sell those games again and develope the franchise further. But so far none of the parties show any interest in that option.

 

I loved those games, too, i wanted to see a new game in the series or at least remasters for the old ones. But the chances are slim.

 

The GOG community inquired Middle Earth Enterprises a number of times and the answer was there all the rights are now with Warner. As you might be aware, the GOG community actively checks for the old game rights to see if they can be brought back for digital releases. And they did had a number of successes in doing so. In thise case, they hit a stonewall.

I do not work for EA and i am not associated with the company in any way. I am a player just like you, trying to help wherever i can.I will not answer to any unsolicited PM.

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