LOTRO EU F2P delay down to "contractual" issues, says Codemasters

Codemasters has said on its forums that the reason for delaying Lord of the Rings Online's free-to-play aspect is down to "contractual" issues.

The MMO went F2P in the US last month, but was pushed back in Europe.

The reason given at the time by the publisher was that the delay was needed to "ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are anticipating and deliver them a Free to Play experience like none other.”

Seems that's not quite the case.

"As many of you correctly surmised, the issues have been contractual rather than technical," said Codies GM David Solari.

"As they were contractual issues, we are bound by confidentiality and you will understand that I can't give you any further detail."

Solari also said, however, that the issues have now been "resolved" and the dev team is now on the "home stretch," adding that "more definitive information" should be coming "later this week."

"I can't give an exact date at this time as there is still some preparatory work to do, but rest assured everyone involved is giving 100 percent to bring Free-to-Play to Europe, and there will be more definitive information hopefully later this week.

Ta, Massively.