Warner Bros. Adds Turbine to LOTR Fellowship

The Lord of the Rings Online developer, Turbine, has been bought by publisher Warner Bros. The acquisition of the Boston-based studio now means that Warner Bros. has the complete rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise.

By buying Turbine, Warner Bros. holds the rights to make games based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novels, the New Line cinema movies based on them, and now the online space. Turbine has a history of success with online titles, from Asheron's Call to Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. Turbine had previously been affiliated with now-defunct publisher Midway.

"We have been looking to expand access to our online worlds to more players and more markets," said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine. "This acquisition is very exciting because it allows us to expand globally while continuing to focus on creating spectacular online games that our loyal fans and players have come to expect."

Warner Bros. is already partnered with developer Snowblind Studios for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, an action-RPG set to come out in 2011.