According to Malaysian LOTRO Gamer, Chance Thomas today posted on his Facebook wall that he will not be writing anymore music for LOTRO. Thomas writes that it is “the end of an era.”
We at LOTRO Players are sad to see this relationship come to an end. The music that Chance Thomas has written for LOTRO has definitely been some of the best in game. Farewell wherever you fare!
Loading ...
I understand that budgets are very important, and obviously shrinking budgets cause things like music to get cut from a video game, however, it is sad.
I hope Chance Thomas will come under consideration for future Middle-Earth efforts as he clearly desired to compose for Minas Tirith and Mordor. And trust me, many of us wanted him to as well.
I shall always enjoy his musical score, and turbine’s in house music composer, while talented, does not either have the tools at their disposal, or the talent to make something good enough for middle-earth.
Thank you Chance, keep pushing forward with your amazing abilities.
Here’s a link to the Rohan Sountrack on iTunes:
Chance Thomas – @lotro Riders of Rohan (Official Video Game Score) – itun.es/i6BB9T2
I’m pretty sure Chance Thomas didn’t compose or record any new music for LOTRO after 2007 (when SoA was released) until 2012 (when RoR) was released. Just because there’s no money in the budget for music from him this year doesn’t mean there won’t be more money three years from now.
I seriously doubt either Turbine or Thomas have shut the door completely to future collaboration forever.
Actually he did Mines of Moria as well so the only ones he didn’t do were Mirkwood which is hardly an expansion and Isengard which is like a prologue to Rohan.
(And obviously HD but that is just more Rohan)
Did he really compose and record new music for Mines of Moria? I was under the impression that that all took place well before the launch of SoA, when he recorded stuff for all the other Vivendi titles at the time.
He might have done it all at once but the Moria soundtrack was not released until the expansion was released.
Personally absolutely gutted, for a long time I had many Chance’s RoR tracks on my phone for the commutes to work. I would be very skeptical of any future increases to budgets to allow this in future. I can only foresee terminal budget declines towards the end of the license. From cutting traditional group instances to cutting QA staff and reduced output across the board, including missing some major story points from the epic story. Turbine LOTRO resources are in terminal decline, from where I’m standing.
huge shame, but to be expected with WB pulling the purse strings tighter. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if within the medium term, the studio closed or became mobile/tablet only.
It’s sad that Turbine’s resources are seemingly so low at this point, but I can hardly blame them for this decision. Good music, even that as good as Chance’s, is NEVER a substitute for content.
Indeed but it is sad to hear it from Mr. Thomas, especially when you think about how well his style would fit Gondor. I am kind of surprised that the music sales for the soundtracks have not paid for themselves.
What worries me is if they are saying music is not a priority in the game, what else are they cutting?
Yet we are just one year removed from a time when, not only resources, but also players, were seen as superfluous to the degree that an entire class revamp was decided on over adding more content. Yes, even players.
Turbine knew that action would cost them players. They even said so. Obviously, they felt doing so would bring in more than they would lose, or at least more income than they would lose. It would seem they were very, very wrong.
I do not want to believe it is too late for a turnaround, but someone(s) over there desperately need to wake up.
Oh I remember you, Kaleigh at all those Ales and Tales events 🙂 These news comes as very little surprise. Turbine never said it outright but LOTRO is very much in maintenance mode now and will stay live as long as there is sufficient revenue coming in each month. In Dec 2016, Turbine will likely announce the sun setting of LOTRO because renewing the IP license will be too expensive. I recall Turbine waiting until the very last minute to announce the renewing of their license earlier this year and at that time I really sort of quit playing because I thought the game was getting shut down…. pft.
Very sad news…. Chance’s music is awsome, I have never heard such good music in the game. I have never just stand with my character and listen to ingame music instead fo playing.
Thank you Thomas Chance for that soundtracks. I hope you will have possibility to make a few more similarly briliant soundtracks in the future for some other titles.
Sad to hear, I listen to Thomas and Shore’s soundtracks almost every day of every week! I signed the petition as well. We will miss your music Chance, but hey, nothing stopping me from playing the old tracks along with the new in game music muted. 8)
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, thank you for the wonderful music for an amazing game Mr. Thomas!
‘Tis the season for sadness in LotRO 🙁
Really sorry to hear this. I love the music Chance Thomas made for LOTRO. I hope Turbine will reconsider and use his music again.
This long slow denoument is killing me. Oh to turn back time!
The music is one of the most enduring beauties of this game. Thank you, Chance!