Christian Allen Thinks War in the North Never Got a Fair Shot Against Skyrim
The former WB Games design director said he urged WB Games not to launch the 2011 action RPG ten days before Skyrim, while Aspyr's Legacy Edition is now available on five platforms.
Christian Allen, a former design director at WB Games, believes The Lord of the Rings: War in the North never received a fair chance when it launched on November 1, 2011, ten days before The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Allen had spent 24 years in the games industry and was part of WB Games’ studio leadership when War in the North originally arrived. He currently serves as design director on Project Zomboid. His responsibilities included handling pitches and releases tied to licensed properties. He did not work on the action RPG directly, but he said he argued against releasing it so close to Bethesda’s massive role-playing game.
“15 years ago I argued vociferously not to release this up against Skyrim, as it wouldn’t get a fair shake,” Allen wrote in an X post. “I got overruled. Nice to see it get a proper release.”
War in the North launched on November 1, 2011, ten days before Skyrim, putting Snowblind Studios’ cooperative action RPG in the shadow of one of the year’s biggest releases. Allen said the game was repeatedly judged against Skyrim or ignored in favor of it, rather than being assessed on its own terms.
He credited the Snowblind team for the game’s work and noted that the studio later merged with Monolith Productions in 2012. Many former Snowblind developers later contributed to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which Allen initially oversaw as a WB Games design director, before Monolith went on to release Shadow of War in 2017. Allen also recalled that War in the North received roughly one review during its launch week and had very little marketing. In his view, the release timing and limited promotion made it even harder for the game to find an audience.
The Legacy Edition gives War in the North another chance
Aspyr’s rerelease, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition, arrived on August 11, 2026, and is now available across five platforms. The Legacy Edition is now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC for $19.99. When it returned, its Steam listing carried a Very Positive rating.
The new version adds several features aimed at current hardware. It supports 60 frames per second except on the original Switch, introduces enemy lock-on, adds autosaves and extra save slots, and improves the AI with visible health, mana, and EXP bars.
Its story follows several heroes fighting Sauron’s forces alongside the events surrounding the Fellowship.
Aspyr handled development and publishing for the Legacy Edition under license from Warner Bros. The publisher has also teased more classic Lord of the Rings releases, though it has not announced which game will come next or when it will arrive.
A launch trailer accompanied the Legacy Edition’s release.
Do you think War in the North would have been remembered differently with a better release window? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow along on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Developed by Snowblind Studios
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a co-op Action RPG that immerses you and your friends in a brutal new chapter in the War of the Ring. Snowblind Studios is in the unique position of drawing inspiration from both the literary and film rights to world of Middle-earth, allowing players to bloody their axes on a wide range of deadly enemies and traverse both established and never-before-seen locations. The result is a journey that is both epic and intimate, familiar yet unexpected.
- Genre Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
- Platforms PlayStation 3, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Xbox 360
- Perspective Third person
- Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
- Release November 1, 2011
- Publisher WB Games
-
Age Rating
