The Lord of the Rings Online – New Areas Leaked

We’ve known for a while that Standing Stone Games was working on some big update for The Lord of the Rings Online. And with the Swedish Embracer Group now buying the IP rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, you might be wondering what exactly the future holds for the long-running MMORPG.

If that’s the case, you might be interested in this MassivelyOP article that directs us to a Reddit post supposedly showcasing a couple of in-game maps from the upcoming Update 34. Here’s what’s they show:

There’s a big announcement on the horizon for Lord of the Rings Online — but it may have just been leaked from the game’s test server. Maps emerged on Reddit showing two brand-new zones for Eriador, the lower-level region, that should be coming out later this year with Update 34.

The leaked regions are Swanfleet and Cardolan, sizable maps that will be fitted south of the Shire, Bree-land, Lone-lands, and Trollshaws. The new areas feature plenty of hills, waterways (including a delta), and key cities of Tharbad and Caras Gelebren.

And here are a few paragraphs on the big acquisition:

Embracer Group AB (”Embracer”), through its wholly owned subsidiary Freemode[1], has entered into an agreement to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns a vast intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions relating to the iconic fantasy literary works The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as matching rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored.

[1] Acquired through Embracer’s subsidiary Embracer Freemode Iconic Holding Inc. and will be part of the operative group Embracer Freemode.

“I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group. I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio,” says Lars Wingefors, Founder and Group CEO Embracer Group.

“We at the Zaentz Company have had the honor over the past half century of stewarding the Tolkien rights so that Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fans worldwide could enjoy award winning epic films, challenging video games, first rate theatre and merchandise of every variety. We could not be more thrilled that it is Embracer now taking up the responsibility and we are confident their group will take it to new heights and dimensions while maintaining homage to the spirit of these great literary works,“ says Marty Glick, COO of The Saul Zaentz Company.