You guessed correctly, it’s free to play, and you’ll collect LoTR characters
There’s a new Lord of the Rings game coming to Android, this time from Electronic Arts. It’s called The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth, and it will be set in Tolkien’s literature world (not to be confused with the Warner Brothers movie world), as EA has partnered with Middle-earth Enterprises and not Warner Bros. (like NetEase did with The Lord of the Rings: War). The game will offer collectible characters and is set to enter regional beta this summer, currently being worked on by Capital Games, the same developer behind the pay-to-win cash-grab Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes.
Since today’s announcement for The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth is fresh, there’s very little to go on outside of what EA has detailed in its PR. We know the game will be free to play and contain collectible characters while offering a strategic and social-competitive experience, whatever that means (pay-to-win PvP, more than likely, just like Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes). Turn-based RPG gameplay is expected, where players will battle through the familiar stories told in Tolkien’s books.
To say none of this sounds exciting is an understatement, as the last thing mobile needs is yet another free to play LoTR game, at least not one that’s a F2P gacha game, and yet that’s precisely what we’ll get. You’d think EA, of all companies, would have the funds to spare to make good games for mobile, but as Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes and its poor player reviews prove, EA is more interested in lazy branded cash grabs than actually offering worthwhile video games for portable play, a sad reflection of what AAAs think of mobile and its user base.
While we’ve yet to see any footage from The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth, today’s announcement surely isn’t anything worth getting excited about, with all of the warning signs clearly detailed, such as collection aspects tied to social gameplay, wrapped up in a F2P package. It sounds exactly like more of the same P2W crud we’ve seen thousands of times over. While I’d love for EA to prove me wrong, it’s highly unlikely it will, which is a shame. After all, why slap an expensive and popular brand on a game unless you plan to recuperate your money.
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