Former WB Games staffer reveals how Skyrim overshadowed LOTR: War in the North

If you were only vaguely aware of Lord of the Rings: War in the North prior to this week's re-release, it turns out there is probably a good reason for that. A former WB Games employee has recently shed light on why the game didn't get any time in the spotlight when it first came out – it launched right next to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

In a series of posts shared on X, former WB Games studio leadership member Christian Allen revealed that War in the North’s original launch was severely hampered by its release date. Allen explained that he “argued vociferously” against launching the game up against The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, believing it wouldn’t get a fair shake, but his concerns were overruled.

Allen went on to say that the game received almost no marketing support and “only got like one review the week it launched”, leaving it to be discovered only by the most dedicated LOTR fans. He added that every review inevitably compared it to Skyrim, exactly as he predicted, and that War in the North “really seemed to get lost in the wash” despite the efforts of the Snowblind development team. With the game now returning in a modernised Legacy Edition, it may finally get the attention it deserved back then.

War in the North isn't the only notable game to suffer due to scheduling. Many games this year were delayed to avoid Grand Theft Auto 6. However, the most famous example of scheduling going wrong is Titanfall 2. Back in 2017, EA made the bizarre decision to release the game in the middle of Battlefield and Call of Duty, which led to predictably low sales despite the quality of the game, and we've not seen a new Titanfall game since.

KitGuru Says: I was only vaguely aware of War in the North prior to the re-release this week, so learning the history behind its initial launch has been interesting. 

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