Hobbits had a good multi-year run at Electronic Arts but it appears that is finally over. Variety reports through unnamed sources that EA's rights to make console and PC games based on the movie version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy have now expired and have reverted back to the movie's owner Warner Bros.

EA made a number of games based on Peter Jackson's fantasy film trilogy (itself based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books) but it seems that after the movie trilogy had run its course gamers lost interest in playing games based on the films. EA managed to release one more title in January, Lord of the Rings Conquest, before their contract expired but both sales and reviews of the game were poor. This decision does not affect the Turbine MMO game Lord of the Rings Online which is just based on the Tolkien books.