Christian Allen, former design director at WB Games Seattle, revealed that he advocated for delaying the launch of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. The action RPG was originally released on November 1, 2011, a mere ten days before the highly anticipated launch of Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Allen stated on X that his efforts to postpone the release were unsuccessful. "I argued vociferously not to release this up against Skyrim, as it wouldn't get a fair shake. I got overruled," he explained. He noted that in addition to the significant impact of Skyrim's release, War in the North also suffered from a marketing campaign he described as surprisingly thin. Allen suggested this could be attributed to either WB Games having low expectations for the title or a misplaced belief that the Lord of the Rings brand alone would drive awareness.
War in the North was developed by Snowblind Studios, which was merged into Monolith Productions in 2012, shortly after the game's disappointing launch. Many former Snowblind staff would later contribute to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. War in the North has recently resurfaced as a Legacy Edition on Steam, where it is currently receiving a "Very Positive" user rating.
Allen attributed the original launch decision to corporate financial pressures. "Quarterly revenue motivations drive more decisions than people realize. It's a big challenge with stock-price driven organizations," he commented. "Must be hard to be an exec and go, 'Well, this game will do better if we hold it until March, but my bonus will take a 50% hit.'"