GameDaily has discovered a new online gaming survey from Intellisurvey that appears to not only confirm the development of a Lord of the Rings Online for the Xbox 360 (as Destructoid reported earlier this year), but also reveal details about the MMO's proposed pricing structure and future downloadable content.
Screen from Lord of the Rings Online for the PC.
The survey asked a series of questions about online gaming, including the following:
Assuming that you liked the content and theme of this Lord of the Rings MMO for the Xbox 360, how likely would you be to purchase the game for $59.99, plus pay a monthly subscription of $12.99?
Neither Warner Bros. Interactive (who currently holds the license to the Lord of the Rings franchise) or Turbine, developer of Lord of the Rings Online for the PC, have confirmed the development of the game, although it's no secret that the latter has been working on a console MMO for some time now.
A representative from Turbine declined to comment on the survey or the game, but offered this: "Turbine has always been focused on the customer and one of the ways we do that is through extensive consumer research."
To date, the Xbox 360 has only seen one other massively-multiplayer game, 2006's Final Fantasy XI. The game required a subscription fee of $12.95 a month; this applied to both users on the free Xbox Live Silver accounts as well as users paying an upwards of $7.99 a month for Gold accounts. Current information about Lord of the Rings Online for the 360, including the information posited by the survey, doesn't indicate that the subscription model for the game will be any different.
In addition, the survey asked respondents whether and how much they'd pay for additional content for the game, which is again in line with previous reports that Turbine was working on a micro-transaction based MMO. These add-ons range from in-game currency and additional classess/races to individual items such as clothing, weapons and armor, animals and transports. Potential downloadable items also include more traditional content such as expansion packs with additional quests and map packs.
Screen from the PC version.
The survey also reveals a proposed game description, whose features are fairly similar to the PC version of the game (emphasis added):
Make the move to Middle-earth as you adventure from the Shire to the shadowed walls of Mordor! Fight for the Free People of Middle-earth as you battle against the forces of the Dark Lord, or serve Sauron as you seek to obtain the One Ring! Play as any of 8 races and set out on your own epic adventure within the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien.
• Wage war against other players within Middle-earth in epic player vs. player battlegrounds! Earn Destiny Points that can be used to unlock powerful rewards.
• Two Epic Stories allow you to serve the Fellowship of the Ring or the Dark Lord Sauron! More than 600 quests will mold you into an unstoppable force for good...or evil. The choice is yours.
• Explore hundreds of hours of game play in the largest virtual world ever built on console.
This isn't the first time information about an upcoming game has been released due to online surveys. Last year, details about Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars were also leaked via survey.
To reiterate, while this survey doesn't confirm any of Lord of the Rings Online's features (or indeed that the game even exists), the questions posed strongly suggest a paid subscription model for the game as well as the possibility of micro-transactions that will give the players additional in-game content. With E3 coming in less than a month, we wouldn't be surprised to hear an official announcement and more details about the Xbox 360 Lord of the Rings MMO soon.
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/lord-of-the-rings-mmo-for-360-potentially-debuts-at-1299month/
Thoughts ?
