Turbine developing console game

By Robert Purchese Published 11 June, 2008

LOTRO dev using funding well.

Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine has revealed it is "actively developing a title for console".

Confirmation follows speculation over the USD 40 million recently invested in the studio by Time Warner.

Although Turbine was reluctant to give away anything further about the project, it did offer that the "huge distribution network" of its partner was something that "may bear fruit" for it.

"The people that invested in us, Time Warner, one of the media giants getting into the MMO fold - that's obviously a big deal," Adam Mersky, spokesperson for Turbine, told Kotaku.

The money will apparently keep Turbine "well funded" for a while to come, and has helped in hiring around 60 people since the beginning of the year - with 40 posts still to fill.

It will also allow the developer to continue to expand its Dungeons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online worlds.

"DDO is doing well, too. It's a good time for that franchise," said Mersky, presumably referring to the launch of the Fourth Edition rules.

"Atari has turned itself around, brought in a lot of talented people recently, and we're in active dialogue with them to do good things for DDO."

One of those good things will be implementing DirectX 10 support this summer, apparently.

Meanwhile, work on Lord of the Rings Online is focused around the upcomingMines of Moria expansion as well as a fresh Book update for July. That virtual interpretation of Middle-Earth will also be gifted a full-blown expansion each year, promised Mersky.

Turbine also recently secured some funding from CGB capital. This will help LOTRO move into China with its strong presence there, which is a big deal for Turbine.

The rest of the money Mersky reveals will be used to develop software and technology, specifically in the area of reducing patching times for newcomers (or those reinstalling), as well as fleshing out its user-created dreams for the future.

Subscription figures for Lord of the Rings Online are routinely kept under lock and key at Codemasters Online Gaming, although well-regarded user-base-watcher MMOGCHART puts it at 150,000 at the start of 2008.

The last recorded figure for Dungeons and Dragons Online was made at the beginning of 2007 and puts it at around 50,000 subscribers.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Dizzy #1 4 years ago

    360 MMO confirmed.

  • Bumhug360 #2 4 years ago

    Turbine churn out mmorpgs at an alarming rate

  • hoster #3 4 years ago

    "360 MMO confirmed"

    doubt it: given the gestation period of MMOs by the time it's finished the 360 will be nearing retirement :/

  • Wash #4 4 years ago

    A good MMO for the 360, find a way to make it cheaper than the pc counterpart (ads, no outlay for initial software.)

    Hopefully, something good will come of this.

  • Dizzy #5 4 years ago

    >doubt it:

    Turbine has their engine running on 360. Turbine 360 "light" MMO ETA 2009. You can mark this thread ;)

    The Hobbit?
    Edited by 2 at 11/06/08 @ 10:38

  • Wash #6 4 years ago

    Surely the Guild Wars model would work on a console, free to play... etc.

  • Dizzy #7 4 years ago

    TBH what would work even better is a crossover between a PC MMO and a console "subgame".

    For example a WoW game where you can use your PC WoW char. Maybe running random 5 man dungeons with your console friends and keeping the loot/gold you got in the console version in the PC version.

    That way you could design an easier to play game for consoles AND a more complex one for PC without people losing their character/loot ;)

  • Wash #8 4 years ago

    Hmm..

    Would the ppl who didnt have both be at a disadvantage?

  • sneetch #9 4 years ago

    Hmmm, a 4th ed D&D "action" MMO like DDO Stormreach could be awesome.

  • Ryuken #10 4 years ago

    @Dizzy: damn, that might be the perfect idea for the game Blizzard's console division is working on. Saw some rumours a while ago about it being codenamed Hydra and that it will be a WarCraft action game (to coïncide with the movie's release). All bogus and speculation perhaps but you never know.

  • BaggyAnt #11 4 years ago

    DDO ported to 360 IMO - interesting to see what happens though...