9/29/00 - Latest News

Sierra and The Tolkien Estate
Berendir @ 9:34 pm EST

Well, a Ringer was good enough to send me this very interesting bit about Sierra and the Tolkien estate. Read on!

hey y'all. just got the new Computer Gaming World Magazine, and found a bit of an article about LOTR.

pg. 49, READ.ME column, article name: Stealthmode:

"The orcs have come home to roos at Sierra. As faithful readers may recall, Mr. Sneaky previously mentioned that Sierra was about to lose the Middle Earth license after they fired MIDDLE EARTH ONLINE team and shut down production. I hinted at developments more dire, and its happened: Sierra has sued the Tolkien Estate to establish their rights to make Middle Earth games be returned to them.
As part of the contract with the Tolkien Estate, Sierra was supposed to deliver a Middle Earth game or they would be in breach of contract. So they did, or so they say. Earlier this year, Sierra supposedly finished a game set in Tolkien's Middle Earth mythos. Why wasn't it released? Apparently, Sierra wasn't allowed to publicize it or sell it without prior approval, and the Tolkien estate said no. It's likely that the Tolkien people thought the game stunk, and that Sierra threw something together to satisfy the contract and to hold on to the rights. Sierra says that they would love to talk about the game, but they can't. Hmmm."

and thats the end of the article. enjoy.
Super-Duper-Ringer-Saint