NetEase announces “Lord of the Rings” Game Fanfiction Contest

GUANGZHOU, China, March 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The SLG game released by NetEase is organizing a fanfiction contest for its character Mathom Peddler, where winners will receive round-trip tickets to visit the Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand.

The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a Warner Bros.-licensed real-time strategy game set in Middle-earth. It offers players the opportunity to lead Middle-earth heroes to seize land, vie for the Ring, and then command the entirety of Middle-earth.

Players can choose to play as Elves and Dwarves, or even join evil forces of Mordor and expand their territory with players of the same side. Moreover, as a season-based game, players can choose the season they want to experience, and play the game under various rules and settings. It never gets old!

For its outstanding quality, the game won the Google Play “Best of 2022” award.


The fanfiction contest is centered around Mathom House, a setting in the original fiction. It is a building similar to a museum and home to objects and rare oddities the Hobbits call “Mathom”. Stories about its owner, the Mathom Peddler, have long been told in the Shire. Some claim the Mathom House has been open for generations, others call the Mathom Peddler a traveler who has traversed all of Middle-earth, and some even say that he is the mastermind pulling the strings behind all major forces in Middle-earth…

Use your imagination with the settings of the Middle-earth world, and write a story for the Mathom Peddler! Five of the best submitters will be given round-trip tickets to New Zealand and to visit the Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata, the shooting location of The Lord of the Rings movies (or the choice to receive a $2,000 US dollar prize).

About NetEase Games

NetEase Games, the online games division of NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES and HKEX: 9999), is a leading global developer and publisher of video game IP across a variety of genres and platforms. NetEase Games’ development and publishing slate include titles such as Knives Out, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, and Naraka: Bladepoint, and partnerships with major entertainment brands such as Warner Bros. and Mojang AB (a Microsoft subsidiary). NetEase Games also supports the growth and development of its innovative global studios in Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States.