Inside the struggle to create a cozy Lord of the Rings game

When new employees start at Weta Workshop, they’re herded into a meeting room with a long, unassuming conference table. On the walls, behind panes of glass and in between statues, swords, and masks, are five Oscars. Four of them were awarded to the studio for its efforts on Peter Jackson’s The

Lord of the Rings films. New hires are offered a chance to hold one of those Oscars, but there’s a catch: handling the golden statuette marks you with a curse, preventing you from ever winning one yourself. Rarely do inductees take Weta up on the offer.

Weta Workshop’s fledgling Game Studio hasn’t achieved the same level of prestige as its film and sp …

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