A dev tried to warn WB Games not to launch Lord of the Rings: War in the North 10 days before Skyrim, but was 'overruled'
As a wise tree guy once said, "We must not be hasty."
In 2011, a WB Games-published action RPG called Lord of the Rings: War in the North was set for release 10 days before The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. An ex-Warner Bros. developer revealed that this timeline might have been altered if the publisher had heeded a warning given by Christian Allen, who was then the design director at WB Games Seattle.
Allen had strongly opposed the launch date, fearing the game would not receive a fair evaluation due to the competitive release. Despite his efforts, the game was launched on November 1, 2011, and struggled to gain attention. Allen also noted that the game suffered from a lackluster marketing campaign and that it may have been dismissed by WB Games or assumed that hardcore LOTR fans would naturally know about it.
The studio behind the game, Snowblind Studios, was later merged with Monolith Productions in 2012 and eventually shut down in 2025 due to corporate shortsightedness driven by quarterly revenue motivations.
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