Warner Brothers Interactive and NetEase Inc. announced a partnership to work on a new Lord Of The Rings mobile game, Lord Of The Rings: Rise Of War. The strategy game is now in development, and there is no announced release date for the game.

Lord Of The Rings: Rise Of War will take place during the third age of Middle Earth. The game will feature iconic characters and settings from the original Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. The last Lord Of The Rings game to come out on phones was a mobile version of Middle Earth: Shadow Of War. The mobile version was also a strategy game that used the nemesis system seen in the Middle Earth games.

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In a press release, William Ding, the CEO of NetEase Inc said: "The Lord of the Rings is one of the most influential and celebrated literary works in the world, and we are thrilled to be able to work with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment again to deliver another exciting game for mobile players."

Lord Of The Rings: Rise Of War isn't the first time that NetEase and Warner Brothers have teamed up for a mobile game. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is a game also being developed by NetEase and is currently in open beta in China. NetEase has a history of working on big licensed phone games. They are also working on Diablo: Immortal, and have released Marvel: Super War, a MOBA game. NetEase has also made investments in other game companies like Bungie and Quantic Dream over the past couple of years in addition to publishing Blizzard games in the Chinese market.

For fans of Lord Of The Rings, this should be a welcome announcement. There hasn't been a good strategy game since Battle For Middle Earth II, and if this mobile game can capture what made the old Battle For Middle Earth games fun, then NetEase will have a hit on their hands. Of course, with any mobile game, players will have to worry about how NetEase will monetize the game, and how predatory the microtransactions will be. Lord Of The Rings: Rise Of War is coming to IOS and Android platforms in the near future.

Source: PRNewswire

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