Turbine Unveiling Console MMOs Next Year

Lord of the Rings Online (PC) developer Turbine is known to be working on console MMOs, but fans will likely have to wait to next year to get details on what the company has up its sleeve.

"I would guess by early next year we'll be able to be much more specific about what we're doing with console," said LOTRO executive producer Jeff Steefel to VG247, who dodged questions about whether Lord of the Rings Online was itself headed to consoles.

"What we're doing now is the early development work and the work with the hardware manufacturers to understand where they're heading in the online space, where the connectivity between the console and internet is really headed," explained Steefel.

"That's everything from how the games really need to behave to the relationship between the hardware manufacturers and the developers to the publishing model, to the consumer business model," he elaborated.

In October, Turbine opened a west coast studio to support its development effort, picking up a number of Hellgate: London alumni along the way from now-defunct developer Flagship Studios.