Turbine has been acquired by Warner Bros.!

[Silirien]

I am not sure what does this mean for us...
Is it good? Or bad?

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=4585725

[Hirion]

Yeah, I've read it too. Nor do I have any clue myself. I guess you can argue both ways, whether it's good news or not, but it would mostly be speculation only.

Personally I'm just waiting for some sort of update, ANY even, from Turbine/Codemasters on what if anything they have in the works in terms of patches or expansions or future direction instead of this lingering radio silence...

[Raedwulf]

I suspect it means BAU (Business As Usual) & nothing changes. If Warner chuck any extra money at Turbine, it'll be for development of new games, rather than new content for existing games, where the user base is not likely to grow. Especially for a game where a significant proportion of the existing users are not contributing significantly to the revenue stream (i.e. Lifers)!

The one vague hope it might hold out is that Warner might decide that licensing is not the way to market the game & that Turbine should be supporting it worldwide, or that what is available via Turbine should be available to everyone. Again, though, I can't see them imposing that on an existing game, so we'll still have to put up with CM.

[Grimbos]

Something of note in a Financial Times Article:


Warner Bros is buying North America’s largest independent online gaming studio in an effort to spread its social networking and micro-payments technology across its video games and home video business.
Social Networking :D
Micro-Payments :(

I do hope they don't venture too far down that path of Micro-payments, or it's bye-bye Lotro for me.

For the full article go here (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/80184a5c-4cbb-11df-9977-00144feab49a.html) (You'll have to register to be able to read it)

[Hirion]

There's also a copy of the full article text (http://community.codemasters.com/forum/6157472-post17.html)in a thread on this issue on the Codemaster forum.

[Grimbos]

yeah, but as it's stated that


Copyright (http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright) The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

I thought I wouldn't here.

[Raedwulf]

Yeah. Don't you dare, or you'll answer to me! :evil: (I work for Pearson Group, who own the FT. No direct connection with that bit of the business, though. ;))

[Silirien]

Micro-Payments is also bye-bye for me.

[Haleabor]

I have no idea what Micro payments are. But if I'm required to take out a subscription monthly then I won't be able to justify it....

However....how do most junkies justify their next fix?

Here comes a life of petty crime and prostitution for me :)

Hal

[Grimbos]

Micro-payments: Pay cash for in-game items/benefits

[Raedwulf]

And never mind "It's bye-bye if they do it", we just make it RRU policy that those joining us don't use the system. I can't believe they'd design content that couldn't be beaten without MP benefits, so we can thumb our noses at it.

[Derigar/Tarinas]

Well WB does have the rights to some aspects of lore that Turbine does not (i believe, don't know the specifics) and of course are making the hobbit film, which they may choose to take advantage of which would benefit the game in one way or another. Forceful microtransactions would of course be the death of the game, too many people have shown violent opposition to anything even edging close to this idea, and i'm hopeful that WB isn't that dillusional.

Best bet though is they want to use Turbine's existing systems and payment schemes to make their own MMO, ask Turbine to hand over their money every now and then and just let this game run its course.

[Haleabor]

..... let this game run its course.

You mean the game is going to END at some point....Nooooooooooo

*looks around at his future empty life....*

[Tiermond]

Doesn't Warner Bros own New Line Cinema, so I suspect this has more to do with The Hobbit films in a few years time and cashing in on games with that.
Whether that means LOTRO is wound done in preperation for a new Hobbit MMO to coincide with the films or if there is extra investment in LOTRO as they test new ideas is anyone guess but these things take time so I doubt it will change anything in the short term.

[Grimdoin]

IMHO we already entered the grey area of MP with the "Adventurer's Pack". You pay little money for some cosmetic items, 2 character slots and additional storage. Not required to beat content and little benefit. I wonder how many did not buy this pack because they are against MP...

Typically MP in a subscription based game should only provide cosmetics and fluff. Not need to stress out imho ofc.