New Middle-earth MMO Game In The Design Stage.....

[Morthoron]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/another-lord...way-1828807871

Saul Zaentz Co.’s Middle-earth Enterprises (who was previously embroiled in a big lawsuit alongside Warner Bros. with the Tolkien estate about using its ownership of certain Middle-earth-ian elements in digital games) has struck a deal with the Hong Kong-based Leyou Technologies—or more specifically, a new studio subsidy of Leyou called Athlon Games—to create a free to play, massively multiplayer online experience “set in the world of Middle-earth long before the events of The Lord of the Rings take place.”

I wonder what rights Deceased Saul Zaentz Co.’s Middle-earth Enterprises has for a game "set before the events of either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings". Since they have only the rights to the two books (TH and LOTR), I am guessing it has to be a rifling of the Appendices at the end of ROTK. C. Tolkien owns all rights to The Sil, HoME and everything else published afterwards (The Children of Húrin , etc.). So, earlier Third Age, evidently, as the 2nd Age might conflict with Tolkien Family Trust rights (and we know how litigious they can be).