Although we cannot (will not) name our source, we now have reason to believe that the lawsuit anonymously alleged to have been brought by Sierra On-Line against the Saul Zaentz Company is more than just a rumor.
Xenite.Org has heard from an independent source we feel should know something about the situation that depositions have indeed been taken for this case. No comment was provided on the specifics of the case, except to confirm that depositions are underway.
The fact of a lawsuit throws serious doubt onto the prospects of any massively multiplayer online roleplaying game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth being brought even to beta testing within the next year. Even if a full development team is in place, even if alpha testing has begun on various aspects of the proposed game (and we have seen no evidence that alpha testing is underway), legal considerations might very well induce Sierra’s attorneys to advise them not to promote or grant public access to the game until the issues have been resolved.
The question of whether New Line Cinema can even issue a MMORG (as such games are often labeled in Internet jargon) license raises doubt over whether Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies will have a significant impact on Internet culture beyond the expected affiliation/association links to merchandise on fan sites, the collection and reporting of news, and the discussion of the events entailed in creating the movies.
An active, widely marketed, popular online roleplaying game would have a broad impact on online Tolkien fandom, many members of which would be expected to play the game (at least for a few weeks) up to 40 hours a week each, depending on their circumstances, interest, and budget. Other online games have successfully cultivated loyal followings which have built up informal societies with their own sets of rules and which occasionally enter into complex relationships with other societies, often in a tournament-style competition eneviroment.
Havas Interactive, the company which owns Sierra On-Line, is currently ranked second largest PC game software provider in the world. They have the marketing clout and budget to produce a massive Internet game, but they may no longer have the right to do so. We await some comment from either party involved in the litigation, even though public statements in such matters are usually short and unrevealing, even when the disputes are settled.
