Re: Any chance of the old LOTR games coming to steam?
@TheBudKnight17 no one knows for how long Warner got the rights. I would also love to see the old LOTR games back, but things are complicated. While EA used those rights to develop the games, the tools EA used are prorpietary. So they would have to reach an agreement with WB that would allow them to sell/remaster/remake/etc the games. Which is not likely.
WB is milking the franchise as much as they can and have shown zero interest in the older LOTR games, especially if those aren't developed by their own gaming studios. While EA may seem a big corp in the gaming industry, WB is one of the biggest megacorps on the planet, especially after their merger with AT&T. The copyright laws do need to be brought up to the modern days, but you know how slow things are moving on that front.
From my point of view, the companies that used a license and developed things for it should be allowed to sell those products, while the IP owner would also take his/her share of the sales. Sadly, the laws, as they are now, do not allow the develoeprs/manufacturers to continue to sell a product after the contract expired. It's alose the fact that many IP owners prefer to have an exclusive contract with a company, instead of offering the IP to multiple companies/etc.
EA developed excellent games for some well known IP's (Harry Potter, LOTR, Godfather, Dune are just a few), only to see the rights snatched or revoked. They've also contributed into exposing further those IP's to new generations. And while understand the IP owner offering the rights to the highest bidder, the exclusivity of those rights isn't something that i can easily understand. But, who knows, maybe the new generations will contribute to changing those old copyright laws, modernizing them. One can hope. We lose a lot of old games due to the expiring licenses and when it comes to MMO's the situation is dire, as those games are completely gone due to the server closure. I hope that we will be able to save more of them before is too late.
