An interesting rumor from the web

commoner · **Joined:** Sat Dec 23, 2006 7:34 pm **Posts:** 21

On Warseer, in a thread concerning the new releases, I saw mention that GW has renewed the LOTR/Hobbit license for another 10 years. I DO NOT know if it is true or not and I'm still trying to find a direct quote about it, but if it stands true that would be great news for us.

Has anyone else read or heard anything about this?

Part of the rumor does conjecture they only did it to prevent the rights switching hands to another company. But, no matter what, if it is true, we will still have a few years ahead we will be able to get some of the line, if not all of it, and hopefully one or two new expansions.

But this makes me also wonder if all these models are disappearing as part of some relaunch project at a later date (post movie) - such as Dunland warriors finally getting a switch to plastic.

In my book, they should redo the whole line. The new plastic kits are far better than the old ones, but that's probably like wishing for the Queen of England to serve me tea at this point.

samoht · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:34 am

Hmmm. That would be great.

If it is true then i am not sure the whole range would get redone but I think it would get neatened up. e.g less rulesbooks to sort through, improved kits (such as the last alliance one)

Leonardis · **Joined:** Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:06 pm **Posts:** 891

I'm not sure... I think they have paid to keep the licence to stop anyone else having it. If they were rebranding all stock would come off and have a new launch.
I would love them to keep it going.... But I doubt it.

I guess time will tell!

Highlordell · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:43 am

Cue the Devlan Mud storm.

Here's the link: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthrea ... 3-22/page3

Here's the quote: "Also, IIRC they renewed the license for the next ten years, so I doubt it's going anywhere soon"

The other's in that thread don't seem to see this as any positive sign, just that it will languish in Specialist Games for a decade with no support.
I also can't tell if he's referring to something from the past or not. It's also just some random guy on a forum, like me. :-D

Lets hope eh?

EDIT: The best I can find is this. Posted 3 years ago but seems to be what the guy was referencing. This is a 6 year extension giving us until 2017.
http://www.geeknative.com/18416/games-w ... he-hobbit/

Creaky · **Joined:** Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:26 pm **Posts:** 424

2017 is the date I've been aware of, and been planning around, but with TABA being a (late) 2014 release, that leaves about 2 years to make a profit on TABA releases. I wonder if that's enough.

I think if Hobbit had done RotK tier money then we might have seen a renewal, but since it didn't (and realistically was never going to) I wouldn't be surprised to see GW let it go to focus on the big money makers.

I do wonder about the 'buy the license to prevent others having it' idea - I know this is far from uncommon in the licensing business, but since other companies (such as Knight Models) are already doing gaming scale miniatures, is this something that is realistically practical for GW? I'd suspect WB would want GW to actually produce new content as part of any deal, too. I'd love some expansions (both minis and new ways of playing), but i just can't see GW wanting to do that. I could be proved wrong, and this current slump is simply the ugly impact of the movie split that seems to have affected everyone, and we'll see a return to glory with TABA. Hope so.

JamesR · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:08 pm

It's not gonna happen. Not for 10 years. GW lost a lot of money those later years of the license and made sure to negotiate this one for only 5 years not 10

mertaal · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:13 pm

I'd love for that to be true Creaky, and at this stage, there's really no reason to be negative. Only time will tell. My gut tells me that GW won't be investing in SBG in any sort of serious way, but that's just at the moment. Times change.

Also, of the three games they actually still produce, SBG is by far the best. The other two are cartoon cutouts of 10 year old war-games. The marketplace has moved way beyond them. It's just taking a while for the consumer to work that out.

halauas · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:53 pm

Warhammer 40k is GW proud jewel, they make the most money out of it and its their most popular, LOTR/hobbit comes second and even tho its true that their sales on LOTR have gone down the past years, Hobbit has blow them up again, they have really increased sales on it and i doupt they will drop or not invest on something that gives them profit.
Also dont forget that TABA hasnt been released yet, its TABA that we will actualy see armies in war and get more fans to it, witch means more sales for them aswell.

ElfGeneral · **Joined:** Fri May 11, 2012 6:04 pm **Posts:** 336

At this point, it all purely conjecture with no real evidence either way but I see no reason not to be positive.

If they have renewed their licence for LOTR and the Hobbit together for 10 years that's fantastic, I can see GW really investing a lot in the next five or so years meaning the hobby will have some legs to it. I can see them waiting a few years and them dividing the entire LOTR/Hobbit range into a Middle Earth range that will hopefully clear up some of the inconsistencies between the two existing ranges and show some love to the older armies like Rohan and them letting the game run it's course until the license runs out.

That being said with the rites to both sets of books they many do early second age stuff e.g the last alliance, the Battle in front of Moria where Thorin got his shield but also the initial takeover, and some third/fourth age stuff e.g the War in the North

We can only hope

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 5:51 pm

5 years people

and the rumor is the license is for the books...which I was under the impression they already had but hey! renewed license should = more models so I'm happy.

Johnnie · **Joined:** Sun Dec 23, 2012 9:14 pm **Posts:** 87

Well if they have acquired 5 or more years on the Lord of the ring license shouldn't they have an obligation to make something out of it then? Not just sit on it to keep it from others. The license must have cost something and that something should be regained from profits on actual products right? :roll:

How I wish GW could come out and talk about the future of their plans. Like what they will go for in 2014 and and in the closing of 2014, what their aim for 2015 will be. Show some plans or show upcoming releases months before release. Give a little insight in their upcoming plans.
Now it feels like we are left with rumours, leaked pictures taken with mobile phones, guesswork and a constant negative tone towards GW.

Sticky Fingersss · **Joined:** Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:20 am **Posts:** 1776

Sounds fantastic! Hopefully it'll be true.

Highlordell · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:49 pm

SouthernDunedain wrote:

5 years people

and the rumor is the license is for the books...which I was under the impression they already had but hey! renewed license should = more models so I'm happy.

Any source for this Southy? (I do believe you btw I'm just interested.)

An interesting rumor from the web

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