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Warner Bros donating Shadow of War DLC revenue to family of late producer

Update: Warner Bros. clarifies position on memorial DLC, says it will not profit from sales regardless of the territory

Update: Warner Bros. will not profit from sales of the DLC released to commemorate Shadow of War's executive producer Michael Forgey.

The publisher has clarified its position following confusion around which territories were included in the plan to donate money to Forgey's family. It sent this statement to Eurogamer:

"Neither Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment nor Monolith Productions will profit from any sales of the Forthog Orc-Slayer DLC regardless of the territory in which that DLC is sold."

Update: Not all of the money earned from the sale of the DLC tribute to deceased executive producer Michael Forgey will go to his family.

Warner Bros. committed to donating $3.50 from every purchase of the DLC character to Forgey's family, but it appears that this only applies to purchases made in the US. According to our sister site Eurogamer, revenue from purchases made in six US states is also excluded: Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Ultimately, it appears that some of the money earned from the commemorative DLC will be kept by Warner Bros. Interactive. Those who live outside of the US, or in the US states mentioned above, may prefer to donate money to Forgey's family through their YouCaring.com page.

Original Story: Warner Bros Games has created a new character for the next Middle-Earth title to raise money for the family of a former member of the team.

Mike Forgey served as executive producer on Shadow of Mordor but sadly passed away last year, before work on its upcoming sequel could be completed. Now the team has created a DLC character in honour of him.

Forthog Orc-Slayer has been developed in Forgey's image and will be sold separately after Shadow of War hits shelves. WB Games has promised that $3.50 from every sale will go to his family, running up to December 31st 2019.

However, it appears this will only apply to sales made in the US. It's unclear whether the Orc-Slayer will still be available in all territories.

"Mike 'Forthog' Forgey was our executive producer and great friend here at Monolith," the team writes at the end of Forthog Orc-Slayer's trailer.

"We lost Mike to cancer during the development of Shadow of War and we want to remember and honour him with a little bit of immortality in Mordor."

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be released for Xbox One, PS4 and PC on October 10th. With Crackdown 3, it has become an important title for the launch of Xbox One X, even featured in some of the premium bundles heading to retail.

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James Batchelor avatar
James Batchelor: James is Editor-in-Chief at GamesIndustry.biz, and has been a B2B journalist since 2006. He is author of The Best Non-Violent Video Games
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