A Game of Thrones MMORPG is coming to mobile devices

As the long wait for season 8 of Game of Thrones begins, we can turn to other properties set in the same world to pass the time. For example, Game of Thrones has been known to spill over into videogames. Let’s check in on some of those projects.

First and foremost, Nerdist reports that Turbine, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and HBO Global Licensing are putting together a strategy game called Game of Thrones: Conquest, an MMORPG set in Westeros. The game will put players “at the head of their own powerful House, with the ultimate goal of navigating the dangerous political landscape of Westeros and claiming the Iron Throne.” They can make alliances with other players, and interact with notable characters like Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister.

The game will available later in 2017 through the App Store (for Apple devices) and Google Play (for Android devices). Fans who preregister here will get some extra stuff, including Night’s Watch training gear, gold, resources, and 24 hours worth of “speedups.”

In less promising news, Forbes reported earlier this week that Bethesda Softworks — the people behind the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series — might be working on a Game of Thrones RPG. As the outlet originally related, a landing page titled “Bethesda: Game of Thrones” appeared on Target website. However, when questioned, a Target spokesperson stated that “This is not a real product – we’re sorry for any confusion.”Unfortunately, Forbes is now reporting that it was a hoax appears to have simply been a hoax.

And that settles that. But the bad news doesn’t stop there.

Telltale Games made a well-regarded series of episodic Game of Thrones videogames a couple years back — season 1 is already out, and season 2 was, at one time, confirmed to be in development. However, Eurogamer is reporting that the series is stalled. Said Telltale’s head of communications Job Stauffer: “Not long after the conclusion of the first season we said would be continuing, and we had designs on the future of Telltale’s Game of Thrones. Right now that is on hold.”

Stauffer cautioned that this doesn’t mean the project is never coming back, but said that the team wanted to “see where things go with the narrative of the [Game of Thrones] show before we really come back to the table with something we’re excited about.” Well, that could be a while. 

EuroGamer, determined to keep the doom and gloom up, also looked into the past and uncovered the reason why Obsidian Entertainment — the folks behind games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Fallout: New Vegas — turned down the chance to develop a Song of Ice and Fire RPG back in 2005, years before Game of Thrones hit the airwaves.

Why didn’t they jump at this opportunity? In part, it was because the well-developed characters and highly structured nature of the novels didn’t lend themselves well to the open world kind of games Obsidian wanted to make. “Looking back at it, the only thing we could have done is what BioWare did with Knights of the Old Republic,” said Obsidian co-founder and CEO Feargus Urquhart. “They basically said Episodes 1-6, you can’t touch it, so we’re just going to go way back. But even then some stuff had already been written about it in the [Star Wars] Expanded Universe. With George R. R. Martin there was no other… they talked about some history… we could have done that.”

There’s also the matter of A Song of Ice and Fire lacking some of the traditional fantasy touchstones:

"Other than what weird stuff is going on beyond The Wall, and the dragons, and some hint [of fantasy/magic], there are no magic users, there are no clerics, no thieves. Basically there’s dudes with swords and armour and a little bit of mysticism, but within the main land [the Seven Kingdoms] there’s no goblins, no kobolds…"

Perhaps with the advent of Game of Thrones: Conquest, there will be more games set in this universe coming out.

Next: Curtain Call: Aiden Gillen

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