Five Lord of the Rings video games are in growth at Embracer Group. As per the firm’s newest monetary report, all these titles are deliberate to be launched inside the subsequent two years — particularly, inside the subsequent monetary yr, which runs from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024. Back in August, Embracer Group bought IP rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit literary works by J.R.R. Tolkien, becoming a member of its huge catalogue of over 800 owned and managed properties. While no actual titles had been revealed in the briefing, we’re already conscious of not less than 4 of them to be in growth for some time now.
The first is The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from Daedalic Entertainment, which not too long ago obtained a brand new launch window, alluding to a launch someday earlier than September, this yr. Originally set for a 2021 launch, the title suffered a number of delays, with the earlier developer replace stating that it wanted extra time to guarantee an optimised efficiency at launch. While not explicitly mentioned, the shake-up was probably attributed to the damaging fan response to its gameplay trailer, the place many referred to as out the recreation’s outdated graphics. Earlier this month, writer Nacon introduced an unique presentation for its upcoming titles, set for March 9, which additionally consists of LOTR: Gollum. Hopefully, the recreation’s in a greater state now.
“–this acquisition 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,” Embracer Group mentioned in its monetary report. Beyond Gollum, Free Range Games is understood to be engaged on The Lord of the Rings: Moria, a survival crafting and base-building recreation centred round the Dwarves, as they set forth on an journey to reclaim their misplaced dwelling of Moria, situated beneath the Misty Mountains. It is slated for launch someday this yr on PC. A 3rd untitled recreation primarily based on the Middle-earth franchise is in growth at Weta Workshop — the similar digital results firm that has expertise engaged on the unique Peter Jackson film trilogy. Private Division (OlliOlli World) is publishing it and is anticipated to launch in the fiscal yr 2024.
The final one is probably EA’s The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth, a cellular recreation targeted on turn-based fight, a large roster of characters from the fantasy universe, and “deep collection systems.” There aren’t many particulars about this recreation, however a (*2*)press launch notes “in-game purchases (including random items)” — elevating suspicion as to whether or not it is a gacha recreation, in the similar vein as Genshin Impact. As talked about earlier than, there have not been any sightings of a fifth LOTR online game.
The report moreover notes {that a} film, produced by an “external partner” is in growth. Back in November, the firm shut down Onoma (previously Square Enix Montréal) merely three weeks after the rebranding. It was reported that Embracer wished to shift focus to PC and console releases, with some of the employees being moved to Eidos-Montréal studio.
