idbeholdME: 1) Game was made by EA when they had the licence for the Tolkien movie universe. So they have the distribution rights for the game but cannot re-release it withot re-acquiring the Tolkien universe rights.
keeveek: good point - game is based on the cinematic universe, using likeness and Warner copyrighted material.
At the same time, it's owned by Tolkien Estate.
So it may be possible getting a license from BOTH companies would be required to make re-release possible.
I'd say the chances to get this re-released are very low
EA had the licence until 2009. Then WB Games (Interactive) acquired it and has been with them ever since.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
"Video game rights to Tolkien's literary works were first licensed to Vivendi, which produced The Fellowship of the Ring in 2002 and The Hobbit in 2003. At around the same time licensing agreements for products relating to the films produced by Peter Jackson were obtained by Electronic Arts (EA), leading to the release of a series of games, starting with The Two Towers in 2002. In 2005 EA acquired the rights to produce games based on the literary works as well, producing further titles up to the release of The Lord of the Rings: Conquest in 2009, when the licensing agreement expired. Video game rights then passed to Warner Brothers." First BFME is using the movie licence, the second BFME is using the book licence. EA would have to make so many expensive steps to re-release the games that it will most likely never happen. Unless EA outbids WB for the rights. So yeah....
And this fact is well known. Look at the prices of Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 on Amazon. Extremely expensive if you want a new one. The Rise of the With King is going for
$139 currently. And if you want to buy the whole trilogy, it is going to cost you
$350!!!