[GameSpot] - EA Confirms New LOTR Game Is Still In Development After Battlefield Mobile And Apex Mobile Canceled

[343iBot]

Electronic Arts management has confirmed that the publisher's upcoming Lord of the Rings mobile game, Heroes of Middle-earth, remains in development. That wouldn't normally be very noteworthy, but the company confirmed this after it canceled Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile this week.

EA boss Laura Miele said on an earnings call this week that the team at EA's Capital Games continues to actively develop Heroes of Middle-earth. The game was soft-launched in select territories in July 2022, and Miele said the full release remains on track for later in 2023.

Capital Games previously made Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, which is one of EA's most successful mobile games of all time, generating more than $1 billion from microtransactions.

EA shocked fans on Tuesday when it announced it would retire Apex Legends Mobile and stop developing Battlefield Mobile. About Apex Legends Mobile, EA said the game's content pipeline fell short of the company's "bar for quality, quantity, and cadence." As for Battlefield Mobile, which was in development at EA's Industrial Toys, EA elected to not move ahead with the game after its soft-launch period. Halo co-creator Alex Seropian leads Industrial Toys, which is now getting shut down, according to VentureBeat.

Heroes of Middle-earth, meanwhile, is a new fantasy game set in The Lord of the Rings universe. The game lets players bring famous Middle-earth characters to battle in a fight between good and evil. A new ring has been discovered, and it grants players the power to rewrite history. Naturally, there is a fight for it, and players can use the ring for good or evil. Check out some gameplay footage above.

As for the wider Lord of the Rings video game landscape, upcoming projects include The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a survival crafting game called Return to Moria, and a new title from Weta and GTA company Take-Two's indie games division. Additionally, Standing Stone continues to update and support Lord of the Rings Online, and the company recently outlined its "ambitious" 2023 plans, including a new expansion.

In other LOTR news, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie series is back on Netflix.

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