Lord of the Rings Online producer 'not worried about World of Warcraft'

by Kyle Horner Nov 25th 2008 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Interviews, News items

Everybody has worries, even Turbine's executive producer Jefferey Steefel. While we don't know what worries him, we do know what doesn't: World of Warcraft. In an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Steefel revealed that Lord of the Rings Online didn't see much of a dent from Age of Conan or Warhammer Online's launch. In fact, much like World of Warcraft, Steefel says most players who left eventually came back. This definitely explains why he's not worried about Wrath of the Lich King and it's launch a week prior to Mines of Moria -- he's got numbers to back it up.

So what's the big secret? Is Turbine employing the power of the one ring? Well, according to Steefel there's a couple of reasons, "Somebody who's really looking for that heavy [Player vs. Player] or [Realm vs. Realm] experience, they're going to go play 'Warhammer.' But if they're looking for the best [Player vs. Environment] game, it's clearly 'LotRO.' Period. Plus, it's 'Lord of the Rings!'" Seems like a solid argument, although none of it would matter if Lord of the Rings Online wasn't an incredibly well-made game.

Steefel even points to this fact when asked why games like Tabula Rasa fail while others succeed, saying, "Consumers aren't so forgiving anymore, and I think that's why [MMOs] are starting to have difficulty." Blizzard certainly played a role in that, although it was bound to happen with time, anyhow.

Tags: age-of-conan, blizzard, funcom, jeffrey-steefel, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, mines-of-moria, mythic, tabula-rasa, turbine, warcraft, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wow, wrath-of-the-lich-king

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Wjowski said on 2:01PM 11-25-2008

Commendable. A developer who's willing to let his game stand on it's own merits and not obsess over World of Warcraft.

JP said on 2:06PM 11-25-2008

All the media politics are crazy for this genre now. It's gotten really bad over the last year. I'm sure some WoW fanboi will be in shortly to prove how he should worry.

The thing I don't understand is (that other then AoC who basically had to suck up and show how their playerbase deserted them) every developer is coming out and saying "Nope, we weren't effected by the release of "

So, what? All these games are pulling all new subs? Bull.

Uldon said on 2:41PM 11-25-2008

It's the same attitude with the player base. If you get in the game and play for awhile, you'll see why there are constatly new people joining up to play everyday amd saying "How did I miss this games launch?"

Jess said on 2:44PM 11-25-2008

Mythic's Mark Jacobs could learn a thing or two from Jefferey Steefel. Where Steefel doesn't care about WoW, it seems Jacobs is damn near obsessed with it and has become a mix of a public relations joke-nightmare. I much prefer the attitude of ignoring WoW as opposed to taking it head on.
and JP, while you would normally be correct, when expansions come out games do get new subscribers because the marketing for goes through the roof for a short period of time.

Jack said on 5:05PM 11-25-2008

Age of Conan or Warhammer Online where PVP games and LOTR online pass for a pve game with some pvp in it.

I do think LOTR beat both Age of Conan and Warhammer in the pve thing!

They do not have to fear WoW like there is always that people left that are big fans of LOTR and keep buying the 4 books they have all ready over and over. When every a new paperbag or hardcover get release. Keep buying that DVD sets they already own and still complaining about the missing parts in it.

And now with this game they can live and be a hero in the world they love noting wrong with that.

And I am pretty sure the world of Warcraft does not make them jump. Everyone got there own thing and its good to see other games on the market.

Aaron said on 6:46PM 11-25-2008

Well, I much prefer LOTRO over WoW, if that means anything. Much more depth.

Tab said on 10:49PM 11-25-2008

I've only been playing LotRO for a few weeks, but it really is a well crafted game. I really like the focus on PvE and having a central narrative to the game that starts at level 1 and goes the whole way to the expansion and beyond. I'm not aware of any other game that has done that. Cetrainly WoW and WAR haven't. If you crave PvP, then LotRO probably isn't the game for you, but it really does get the PvE part right -- moreso than any other MMORPG I've played to date.

Blue Kae said on 10:54AM 11-26-2008

WoW and LoTRO are both well-made games and they both do excellent PVE. The real difference between the two is the community that has developed around each game.