What’s happening:

The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online have been acquired by Standing Stone Games, a newly-formed independent game studio made up of the same groups that have been working on LOTRO and DDO for years. We remain committed to both games, and are thrilled to be able to take these games in exciting directions for a long time to come. Standing Stone Games will operate as an independent studio, with global publishing support from Daybreak Games.

What does this mean?

It’s business as usual for both LOTRO and DDO’s operations and development. Both games will continue along their respective development paths and bring you the content you enjoy.

What is happening to Turbine?

Turbine will no longer be involved in the development of LOTRO and DDO. They will continue on the development of their products.

What about my account?

Your account login information remains the same. You’ll keep all purchases, including Turbine Points, VIP subscription time, Lifetime Memberships for LOTRO, and any things you’ve picked up through the in-game Store.

Are you planning to make any changes to the cost of VIP?

We are always looking for additional ways to offer the best value to our VIP players. The cost and value of the VIP program remains unchanged, although it's possible we may offer additional benefits or tiers of subscription in the future.

What’s happening to Turbine Points?

Your point total remains intact. The name of your points will change from Turbine Points to DDO or LOTRO Points, but the value of these points will not change.

What about game cards like Turbine Point cards and subscription time cards?

You’ll still be able to redeem game cards you’ve purchased.

What about my Lifetime Membership?

Your Lifetime Membership will continue to be honored, and no changes to it will be made.

Will this require any downtime or impact our ability to login?

We encourage players to keep an eye on our social media feeds and forums, as there may be some periods of downtime while we do technical and other work in the coming weeks. Our plan is to of course minimize the amount of downtime to the least possible.

Will the servers be changing?

We'll continue to operate out of our existing data center, and there are no plans to change servers in any way.

What does this mean for licensing of the Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings IPs?

We’ve updated our licensing agreements without issue and will continue that relationship.

How do we contact customer service after the transition?

support.turbine.com

Does this mean the games are shutting down?

No! On the contrary, we are extremely excited by this transition into an independent studio, and we can't wait to work on the game long into the future.

Are the web sites changing? What about Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites?

We may do some work on DDO.com and LOTRO.com in the future, but the web sites and social media URLs will stay the same. We'll be switching out some corporate logos and such in the coming weeks, of course, but if you've subscribed to us on YouTube or liked us on Facebook, for example, there's nothing you'll need to do.

How does this impact Daybreak Games?

Daybreak Game Company’s role as publisher for LOTRO and DDO should have no impact on any existing Daybreak games.

Shame about what's about to happen to the game though. 

He didn't seem that upset to me.

Overall I smell a coffin for Turbine, and WB is going to buy that New indy studio in a feu month

I think it makes sense when you look at the timing of things. WB purchased Turbine in 2010 - seven years after the third movie was released, but two years before the first Hobbit movie was released. There was significant potential for that property to take off again. It didn't. Now, all three Hobbit movies have been released and the property is dead for a decade or two at minimum. Sell, sell, sell!