The Lord of the Rings game, Gollum, was… not a hit, to say the least. Our review called it a “waste of your precious time,” and for good reason. So when news came out that more franchise games were in the works, people couldn’t help but feel skeptical.
At least it can’t get any worse, right? That’s what we’d like to think, but many have already condemned the idea to be “trash” or have outright rejected it. Embracer CEO Lee Guinchard seems to have a lot of hope, however, as relayed in a recent interview.
Lee Guinchard Says New Lord of the Rings Games in the Works
In an interview between Games Beat and Lee Guinchard, the history of the franchise was explored about all the media spinoffs. While Amazon is set to release a new season of The Rings of Power in September, its games division is working on an MMORPG for the franchise.
Peter Jackson, the director of the original movie trilogy, is also working on a new franchise movie that will have a domino effect on the games side of things.
Guinchard, a big fan of the franchise, says that he’s been spending a lot of time with Jackson’s team, the Weta Workshop crew, the Tolkien Estate, the studio heads at Warner Bros. and New Line Cinemas, and other bodies involved in the cinematic side of the franchise.
He states that he wants to build bridges and kickstart some new projects, which means more games are coming, but he can’t talk about them yet. As relayed by Games Beat, he does say this:
…games are going to be made to fully explore the new universe being created, and games will be considered as hugely important in the Middle-earth entertainment of the future.
Guinchard does speak on the failure of Gollum, the disastrous game that was shunned by most people.
On the other hand, the franchise’s card game, The Gathering, performed well with over $200 million in revenue. There’s also the new cozy game, Tales of the Shire, that’s set to release sometime this year.
Guinchard Has a Long Way to Go before Convincing Fans
The interview did little to instill confidence in a lot of gamers. Gollum still leaves a sour taste in many a mouth, as people hope that, at the very least, the new games aren’t blatant cash grabs.
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Then, there’s the other group of people that have already written off the future games to probably be “live-service trash.”
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One user sarcastically expressed that they’d love to see a new game with the same quality and attention as Gollum, while another just said they didn’t want to see any more games for the franchise.
Only time will tell if Guinchard can ease over these feelings and deliver something that can reinstill people’s confidence in his team.
Do you want to see more games in the franchise? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
