Turbine Hands LOTRO And DDO Off To Indie Studio, Daybreak Is Publishing

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It's December 19th, which means that 2016 still isn't over and there's still time for shocking news. Remember how Turbine announced in July that they were planning to focus on the development of free-to-play mobile games? Well, today we found out what they are doing with their existing titles and I'm willing to bet that no one saw it coming.

Turbine is moving Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online, and their teams, to "a newly formed indie game studio" by the name of "Standing Stone Games." They will continue to develop and operate the two titles. But here's the more surprising part: Daybreak Game Company will be publishing the titles from here on out.

I'm in disbelief. It's a rather unprecedented move, but the two titles will at least live on despite Turbine ending its involvement with them.

Unfortunately, Asheron's Call was not mentioned and it remains to be seen what will happen to the aging MMORPG and its sequel. The titles are currently buy-to-play at the price of $9.99 for both games. Asheron's Call was last updated on March 26th, 2014 and Turbine has long been discussing the possibility of player-hosted servers, but they have yet to come to fruition. Ultimately, things aren't looking good for either game.

You can find the full announcement here.

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