Pandemic Studios, the bods behind Star Wars: Battlefront are turning their hands to a new, equally well-loved storyline - announcing the development of The Lord of the Rings: Conquest.

Set in the world created by J.R.R. Tolkein and depicted in the Academy Award-winning films, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will allow players to fight the entirety of the epic battles - any way they want. And, for the first time, if you don't want to crusade as the good guys, the option is there to conquer Middle-Earth as part of Sauron's evil army. Bring on Cave-trolls, the Balrog, Oliphaunts and even Sauron himself!


Andrew Goldman, Pandemic Studios co-founder and general manager is excited:

"Our Pandemic Studios creative teams have years of expertise bringing giant battlefields to life. We've always wanted to harness our experience in a fantasy universe with warriors, archers, mages and castle sieges. Of course, there is truly no better fantasy world to recreate than the enormity of Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' realm."

Josh Resnick, co-founder and general manager at Pandemic Studios, continues:

"We'll freely admit that we're rabid fans of The Lord of the Rings fantasy. Our experience creating massive, rich, action-packed games means that The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will give fans exactly what they want: full control of the blade, bow and magic to fight its epic battles any way they want – even if they choose to play from the evil side."

David Imhoff, Senior EVP of Worldwide Licensing & Merchandising for New Line Cinema, who are working with the developers on the project adds:

"We are thrilled to be working with Pandemic Studios on this game. They bring not only their incredible technical and creative abilities but also a great passion for The Lord of the Rings."

While we've received a small handful of first-look screens, the first trailer and gameplay footage is still a little while away, due to debut in June.


The kids at Pandemic have their work cut out for them - combined with Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Saboteur, this is the third blockbuster game project currently in development at the studios.

Lord of the Rings: Conquest is currently being worked on for Xbox 360, PS3, PC and the Nintendo DS. No word on a release date at this stage.