Embracer Group is working on five Lord of the Rings games. According to the most recent financial report from the business, it is planned that each of these titles will be released within the next two years, specifically during the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on April 1, 2023 and ends on March 31, 2024. Embracer Group added the intellectual property rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to its extensive inventory of over 800 owned and controlled properties in August. Even though the briefing did not specify any specific titles, we are aware that at least four of them have been in development for some time.
The Lord of the Rings is the first: Gollum, a game produced by Daedalic Entertainment, has recently been given a new release window, implying that it will be released prior to September of this year. The game’s initial release date of 2021 was postponed multiple times due to delays. The previous developer update stated that additional time was required to ensure optimal launch performance. Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, the negative fan reaction to the gameplay trailer, in which many pointed out the game’s dated graphics, may have been the cause of the change. Publisher Nacon announced earlier this month that it would hold an exclusive presentation on March 9 for its upcoming titles, which also include LOTR: Gollum. Hopefully, the game has improved recently.
The Lord of the Rings intellectual property is attracting a lot of interest from internal and external partners in a variety of media formats as a result of this acquisition. In its financial report, Embracer Group stated, “There are currently five games in development by external partners, to be released in the financial year 2023/24.” Free Range Games is known to be working on The Lord of the Rings in addition to Gollum: Moria is a survival crafting and base-building game about the Dwarves and their quest to reclaim their lost home, Moria, beneath the Misty Mountains. It is expected to be available for PC sometime this year. Weta Workshop, the same digital effects studio that worked on the original Peter Jackson movie trilogy, is developing a Middle-earth-themed third game with no name. It is being published by Private Division (OlliOlli World) and is anticipated to launch in fiscal year 2024.
The final one may be The Lord of the Rings: A mobile game called Heroes of Middle-earth focuses on turn-based combat, a large cast of fantasy characters, and “deep collection systems.” A press release mentions “in-game purchases (including random items),” raising the possibility that this is a gacha game similar to Genshin Impact. There aren’t many details about this game. As previously stated, there has been no evidence of a fifth LOTR video game.
Additionally, an “external partner” is working on a movie, according to the report. Three weeks after the rebranding, the company shut down Onoma, formerly Square Enix Montréal, in November. It was said that Embracer wanted to concentrate on PC and console releases, so some employees were moved to the Eidos-Montréal studio.