Warner Bros. buys MMO dev Turbine

By Ellie Gibson Published 21 April, 2010

You know, they did LOTR Online.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has acquired Turbine Inc., the MMO developer behind Dungeon & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online.

Turbine, which was founded in Boston in 1994, also produced Asheron's Call and its sequel. Until now it was the largest privately-held online games studio in North America.

The LOTR licence may have been what first attracted Warner Bros., as the publisher owns all other rights to games based on Tolkien's books.

"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. just loves shopping for new friends - it snapped up LEGO Star Wars developer TT Games in 2007, bought Snowblind Studios in 2009, and purchased Rocksteady Studios, the firm behind Arkham Asylum, just a few months ago.

Read more about the deal on GamesIndustry.biz.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (15) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tyranix #1 2 years ago

    Argh for me this is very bad news. As a long time Lotro player I have respected Turbine for being independant and thus not having to dance to any greedy, money hungry corporations' tunes. I just hope this was out of neccessity and not selling out.

  • Kerome #2 2 years ago

    Warner Bros is getting busy... looks to me like they want to become a publisher, doing their own cross-media first-party products. I'd imagine Turbine is going to be doing MMO's and a digital distribution platform, but in some ways it's a good thing for LotRO, more financial muscle has to be a good thing. If I were a LotRO fan I'd be more worried about SW:TOR stealing a bunch of players ;)

  • GriddleOctopus #3 2 years ago

    It's a good thing for Turbine; not merely because it unifies the LOTR franchise, but because it gives Turbine a bit more leverage in getting their games on other platforms. They really have struggled to get LOTRO especially onto 360, despite having all the capabilities in their engine.

  • idol #4 2 years ago

    Warner Bors should spend some of that Hollywood money and give it to Turbine so that they can do more voice over in LoTRO.

  • Dizzy #5 2 years ago

    If this gets rid of Codemasters for Lotro I am happy.

  • erp #6 2 years ago

    "Dizzy", there's something very ironic about that post of yours... ;)

  • sneetch #7 2 years ago

    @Tyranix
    Argh for me this is very bad news. As a long time Lotro player I have respected Turbine for being independant and thus not having to dance to any greedy, money hungry corporations' tunes. I just hope this was out of neccessity and not selling out.

    So you hope they sold themselves because they had no other choice and so more than likely got a bad deal rather than they sold themselves whilst in a position of strength and so more than likely got a better deal?

    Wow, I'd hate to see what you wish for companies you don't like.

  • Bravestinsane #8 2 years ago

    @sneetch

    He's saying he hope they were bought out because they needed the money in order to keep the game running for loyal players and "NOT" for because they had doller signs in their eyes and wanted to make a quick buck.

    I can understand your point but i agree with Tyranix, i would much rather companies keep full control of their IPs and just made publishing deals.

    Look at Activision and IW for an example IW were bought out Acti tramples all over them telling them what to do sacking the people in charge when they go against Actis own views. Turbine could now be in a similar situation, they may of started the company but now WB are free to do what they want with it.

    Look at EA in the past buying out small companies then shutting them down just to get the IP and then make the games them selves so they get all the money (i will add that the games become worse and worse then the original people don't make them) from my point of view, i thought Turbine was a pretty healthy company with a good subscription base so why they chose to do this is beyond me.

  • Spekingur #9 2 years ago

    Perhaps because if they become a part of Warner Bros they can start doing other things than just LoTRO.
    Or they might get more freedom to create something within LoTRO.

  • sneetch #10 2 years ago

    @Bravestinsane

    Fair enough, I take your and Tyranix's point but at the same time signing up with these corporations will give them the financial backing to continue focusing on producing their games, as the article says:

    "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."

  • Bravestinsane #11 2 years ago

    @Sneetch

    Like i said i see that point, i hope that remains the case and they do use it to their advantage. The only thing i hope doesn't happen is WB sticking their noses in, i just hope they will be able to keep their independence and work in their terms not WBs.

    We will have to wait and see anyway from my experiences its a good game, only played a couple of months, i can't stay subbed to a game for long lol get bored and try others.

  • iokthemonkey #12 2 years ago

    I hope this gives Turbine the oomph they need to produce the Rohan expansion. I must admit, when SoM was a digital download-only, it made me wonder if they were having financial problems and - great as the expansion is - it seems a little stop-gappy compared to the mighty Mines of Moria. Let's hope this sees them earn the financial stability they need rather than a move that's going to see WB try to make LOTRO a ''WOW killer.'' *shudder*

  • darkmorgado #13 2 years ago

    Everyone has the heart of adoring beautiful things.Women may not wear links of london jewellery, she can’t not but love jewellery. Jewelry is the most feminine thing, links of london sweetie bracelet and thebest thing close to the small woman's heart.

    Does that include the One Ring?

    Fuck off, you spammer.

  • levitate #14 2 years ago

    They should buy the greek company that makes Darkfall and turn it into a playable game.

  • Thedni #15 2 years ago

    I guess its a good move on WBs part, I doubt they want to go through another MxO. Still hope they don't pull on the strings with Turbine too hard.