 Development of Middle @-@ earth : Shadow of Mordor , which took about three years , began in late 2011 . The game 's lead developer was Monolith Productions , who had experience on a Middle @-@ earth game with Guardians of Middle @-@ earth ( a multiplayer online battle arena game released in 2012 ) . According to design director Michael de Plater , Shadow of Mordor was developed in parallel with Guardians of Middle @-@ earth but handled by a separate team . It was published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment , who had published the Batman : Arkham game series . The game was designed by de Plater , who had worked with Creative Assembly on Rome : Total War and Ubisoft on Tom Clancy 's <unk> and Tom Clancy 's Ghost Recon : Future Soldier . 
