As stated in their report, the acquisition of Middle-Earth Enterprises “has generated a lot of interest among both internal and external partners for the Lord of the Rings IP, across different media formats. There are currently five games in production by external partners, to be released in the financial year 2023/24. There is also one film in production by an external partner.” The film in question is an animated movie named The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and is set to star Brian Cox and Miranda Otto in lead roles.
Embracer confirmed that all five new games are currently in production and are being developed by third-party partners. Little is known about what these games might be, though one is almost certainly Daedalic’s Lord of the Rings: Gollum – a stealth-focused adventure starring the titular Gollum, which has already been delayed several times but is now scheduled to launch in April 2023. Whereas, another may be The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria – in which players will “take control of a company of Dwarves tasked to reclaim the lost spoils from the Dwarven homeland of Moria”.
As for the other three titles: EA is said to be working on a new free-to-play mobile game called The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-Earth, while Weta Workshop (the VFX team behind the LotR films) is said to be working with Take-Two on a brand-new game set in the world of Middle-Earth. As for the final game, it currently remains a mystery.
Embracer group currently has 224 games in the works, many of which might be sequels or reboots of great games from the past. This is because, in addition to Middle-Earth Enterprises, Embracer Group bought the majority of Square Enix’s western studios and IPs back in May last year, including the rights to Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, and Thief. The company certainly appears to be embracing the video game market, and, hopefully, gamers will hear more about their planned future releases soon.
