Turbine takes Lord Of The Rings off Codemasters

Massachusetts-based studio Turbine will take full international control of The Lord of the Rings Online, the developer has said.

Turbine, which oversees the MMO’s operations in the US, said it will take control globally in June.

As part of the move, UK publisher Codemasters will no longer be operating the game across Europe.

The Lord of the Rings Online has become a success story for Turbine since the MMO series adopted a free-to-play model last year.

Standard and premium subscriptions are available to customers, while in-game items are sold too.

Turbine said average revenues had tripled since the free-to-play switch began.

“We are working very closely with our partner Codemasters Online to facilitate a smooth transition to our new global service,” said Kate Paiz, executive producer of The Lord of the Rings Online.

Paiz confirmed that existing Euro customers will need to migrate their Codemasters accounts to the new global service.

No information or in-game items will be lost in the process and Codemasters Lifetime accounts will automatically become Turbine Lifetime accounts.

However, Game Time Cards published by Codemasters will not be compatible once the switch has been made.