D&D, Lord of the Rings Online devs spin off from Turbine

Standing Stone Games is a newly formed independent studio, but it already has two long-running hits to its name. In a post on the official Lord of the Rings Online website today, the game's executive producer Rob Ciccolini posted a note announcing that the teams behind LOTRO and Dungeons & Dragons Online have split off from developer Turbine, and are taking their two massively multiplayer online games with them.

"We're embarking on an exciting adventure as Standing Stone Games, a newly-independent studio staffed by people who have been working on DDO and LOTRO for many years," Ciccolini said. "The teams remain very much committed to both games and are thrilled to continue development and operations of these games as an independent studio."

Turbine will no longer be involved in the games, as Standing Stone has tapped Daybreak Games to take over publishing duties on both titles. As for the licenses that go along with the games, Standing Stone has updated its deals with the licensors and will continue to feature them.

The move should be minimally intrusive for players. There will be no server transition, and login information, subscription plans, and microtransaction point balances will all remain the same.

Turbine parent company Warner Bros. laid off developers at the studio in July, saying the move was part of a transition to a free-to-play mobile development studio. Turbine's current projects include Batman: Arkham Underworld on iOS and Game of Thrones: Conquest, which was announced early last year but has yet to launch.