Fresh off of Gotham City Impostors, Monolith Productions is now spinning off another key Warner Bros. property in the online multiplayer arena. This time, instead of Batman, it’s The Lord of the Rings.
Tying in with the theatrical debut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December and hoping to capitalize on the soaring popularity of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre made famous on PC by games like Defense of the Ancients and League of Legends, Guardians of Middle-earth is a Lord of the Rings-inspired MOBA game designed for consoles. It’ll be releasing this fall as a digital download title on PSN and XBLA.
Players will take up arms as their favorite Middle-earth guardians and engage in 5-on-5 PVP matches online or against AI opponents. Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum and Thráin have been confirmed as playable guardians so far, each with different abilities and play styles to master. Additional guardians, including characters from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will also be released as post-launch DLC.
“The MOBA genre is wildly popular with PC players and we are excited to bring it to consoles through the lore of Middle-earth,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development at WBIE. “The heroes and villains of Middle-earth are crafted in a way that perfectly intersects with MOBA game features, allowing the development team to create guardians with deep skills and abilities for gamers to master.”
Tomorrow’s pre-E3 episode of “GTTV with Geoff Keighley” will premiere the game’s first trailer. Tune in to Spike TV at 1:00 AM ET/PT on Thursday, May 31 to check it out. Or just wait a few minutes later for the trailer to start popping up online.