Turbine is working on bringing their Lord of the Rings MMOG to the Xbox 360 (and possibly PlayStation 3), according to rumors.
According to a “reliable source” who spoke with Destructoid, Turbine is bringing Lord of the Rings Online to Xbox 360, barring a few snags. Apparently the game is well on its way, but Turbine is having some problems negotiating a subscription model for its game on Xbox Live. They want to make it free-to-play, while Microsoft won’t commit to that model. The company is well known for being strict about how things are monetized over Xbox Live, as anyone who’s been waiting for Team Fortress 2 DLC on the 360 will know.
Destructoid, however, has heard through the grapevine that Microsoft is close to finalizing an arrangement for putting MMOGs on Xbox Live, and that the technology for Lord of the Rings Online is all set to go.
Turbine, predictably, was coy about confirming or denying the rumors, only stating that they were indeed working on a console MMOG and are in talks with both Microsoft and Sony. The developer plans to officially reveal the project in the near future. “We plan to make more noise in a couple of months,” Adam Mersky of Turbine told Joystiq. “We’ll definitely have something to show by summer.”
If it’s true, let’s hope that whatever pricing scheme Microsoft, Sony and Turbine work out isn’t too complicated or expensive, because it could set a precedent for current-gen console MMOGs, for better or worse. Either way, I wouldn’t mind farming some pipeweed over Xbox Live.
