The Lord of the Rings hasn’t had too big of a presence in games outside of some casual or mobile titles in the last few years. But Embracer Group is about to change that notion, as it revealed that five games based in the franchise are slated to release in the next two years.
As noted in its recent interim report, the company simply stated that five games are in production with third-party partners and will come out in the next 24 months. It is not more specific.
However, most of those have seemingly already been announced. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is one of the more high-profile games and even though it has been delayed over and over again, is slated to release between April and September of 2023. The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a PC-only crafting game in the vein of Deep Rock Galactic coming from Free Range Games sometime in 2023. Electronic Arts is also publishing a free-to-play collectible mobile RPG called Heroes of Middle-earth.
Wētā Workshop is also creating a console game with Take-Two subsidiary Private Division, the publisher of titles like OlliOlli World, Rollerdrome, and The Outer Worlds. It’s scheduled to come out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC sometime during Take-Two’s 2024 fiscal year.
With four announced The Lord of the Rings games and five coming in the two years, it’s unclear what the final title could be. Monolith Productions, the studio behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War — the last two big, well-received console titles — is currently developing a Wonder Woman game, meaning it is very unlikely to also be making a third Middle-earth entry.
