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[Lunatic_Gamer]

Today, as part of its Q3 2022 financial report, the Embracer Group announced that there are five new games based on The Lord of the Rings IP in production by external game studios. They are currently expected to be released by the end of March 2024.

In the quarter, Freemode closed the previously announced acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises. For Freemode, 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 financial year 2023/24.
There is also one film in production by an external partner. Freemode continues to make selective key recruitments in various parts of its business to strengthen the organization.

So far, we know only two games based on The Lord of the Rings. The first is the long-delayed story-driven action/adventure game Gollum by Daedalic Entertainment, featuring the iconic character's journey through Middle-earth. Originally announced in March 2019, it was supposed to be released in 2021. Daedalic later delayed it to 2022, which became September 2022 before a quiet slip into 2023. The latest news suggests a Spring/Summer launch window, with the developers expected to share more information at the upcoming Nacon Connect (scheduled for March 9th).

The other game is the survival title The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, where players will embark on an all-dwarf adventure (set in the Fourth Era of Middle-earth) to explore and survive the iconic underground region with coop support for up to eight dwarves. Developed by Californian studio Free Range Games, Return to Moria will be released sometime this year on PC via the Epic Games Store.

That means three unannounced The Lord of the Rings games are in the works. Keep in mind, however, that the Embracer Group statement could also include mobile games.

The Lord of the Rings IP Is Getting Five New Games by March 2024

According to the Embracer Group, owner of The Lord of the Rings IP, 5 new games based on the beloved universe will be released by March 2024.

wccftech.com

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I’ll take another Lord of the Rings Conquest (but actually done better) as well as a new entry to the Battle for Middle Earth games.

If they’re really generous, I’d take an HD remaster of both Two Towers and Return of the King games too, they were fantastic.

 

[Big Baller]

One game is with fucking Gollem and the other is with fucking dwarves.

 

[CGNoire]

Return of the King is one of my all time favorites. So good.

Would kill for another in its vain. Elevated Auto Camera, 2player, good old Hack n Slash Golden Axe Inspired fun.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Nice!

I hope one of them is a AAA open-world game that has the essence of LOTR right, much like Hogwart's Legacy.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Hogwarts Legacy has set a new bar for licensed IP games...

...and I'm 100% sure whatever these games are they will not come anywhere close to meeting that new standard.

 

[Punished Miku]

I don't think the IP adds much anymore, and might even be a negative.

Any game will have to stand on its own entirely to find success. It'll just have to be genuinely fun to play, or have a great story.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Hopefully one of them is on the level of a Hogwarts Legacy.

 

[rampo360]

Give us a Skyrim in Middle Earth please

 

[The Cockatrice]

Nothing good I reckon but will see.

 

[SuperSaiyanWithDreads]

Lord of the Rings, another sorcery witchcraft type game, the collector edition might as well come with a ring and a book full of spells

 

[V1LÆM]

Give me an open world middle earth and full blown RPG for fuck sake. i know LOTR online is still going but c'mon...we need something new.

I don't want any of this Gollum/Dwarf shite.

 

[phaedrus]

One game is with fucking Gollem and the other is with fucking dwarves.

 

[YuLY]

One game is with fucking Gollem and the other is with fucking dwarves.

Yep.... people are waiting for a LOTR game in the style of Witcher 3 and look what these studios are making. But then again, you need talent for that.

 

[crackajack]

LoTR seems a bit odd. I mean a proper retelling of the entire story would be fine, but we already have the books and the movies, where only Tom Bombadil was omitted and the sort of fun Lego crap. So, I don't really need that. Extending some bits and pieces is kind of "dangerous"? Something playing in Middle Earth though, why not. Witcher Skyrim Elden Ring like games or a Telltale like thing.
Same with Game of Thrones. Something with Lady Stoneheart would be interesting, or a game relaunching the thing with season 7 but anything else seems hard to do on the same high quality and then I'd rather have nothing than something that tarnishes the IP.

 

[LordCBH]

The fact that we haven’t had a middle earth open world rpg STILL pisses me off.

 

[Topher]

I'd love another Shadow of Mordor game.

 

[Fuz]

As a huge Tolkien fan, this is horrible news.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I’d love to see them pull off the big open world. Something the MMO touched on, but didn’t implement fully. I ignore the majority of LotR games. They’re only a sliver of what could actually be done with the IP. I trust other developers to do what this franchise doesn’t do with its aesthetics.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Lord of the rings was a huge success it should have hundreds of games.

 

[GymWolf]

If they are even half as good as the amazon serial tv, we are in for a (vomit inducing) ride, fellas.

 

[Musashipan]

Lotr is so much superior than henry potter
There should be more games.

 

[Cheezewizz]

I don't think the IP adds much anymore, and might even be a negative.

Any game will have to stand on its own entirely to find success. It'll just have to be genuinely fun to play, or have a great story.

I agree. 4 games by this time next year is crazy though. Maybe they're seeing something we aren't.

 

[TLZ]

As a huge Tolkien fan, this is horrible news.

Would you feel if they're being done by Amazon?

 

[semiconscious]

One game is with fucking Gollem and the other is with fucking dwarves.

sorta the opposite of 'think big'...

 

[DAHGAMING]

Im surprised we havnt had the open world lotr game yet, all the ingrediants are there, story, characters, setting ect. Maybe Hogwarts Legacy will give them a kick up the arse.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Nice!

I hope one of them is a AAA open-world game that has the essence of LOTR right, much like Hogwart's Legacy.

Story issues aside, Shadow of Mordor had it right.

 

[Braag]

LotR gonna be the new 40K with bunch of indie and AA games being churned out every few months.

 

[BootsLoader]

 

[VN1X]

I'd love another Shadow of Mordor game.

Oh that reminds me, I own the second game but have yet to play it! Hopefully some time this year.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Story issues aside, Shadow of Mordor had it right.

Shadow of Mordor was a lot of fun, for sure. I still want a game that is closer to the LOTR trilogy / the main book series, however.

Return of the King was a fantastic game. Perhaps a no-name character in the LOTR universe in the same time period who crosses paths with various characters from the books in an open-world RPG game would satiate me.

 

[Woopah]

If none of these are Battle for Middle Earth 3 I will be sad

 

[Lunarorbit]

Are they trying to run it into the ground?

 

[MiguelItUp]

Hopefully one of them is on the level of a Hogwarts Legacy.

That's all I want, personally. Five new games by March 2024 is pretty insane, makes you worry about their quality, lol. Hopefully at least one is very good.

 

[IAmNotFromDelaware]

I think I'm out of the loop here. So embracer group bought the Lord of the Rings IP?

So does that mean no more Shadow of Mordor/War type of games? Those were probably some of my favorite games of the past generation so this would be a big loss.

 

[diffusionx]

Really sad how before Christopher Tolkien’s body was cold these studios began figuring out ways to whore this out and turn it into a shitty GOT.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I feel like I'll never see another game like LotR: War in the North. Such a great game and fits in really well with the lore. I can spend hours with it's dated gameplay yet get bored with Shadow of Mordor/War.

Maybe they should make a Shadow of game where you play as an Orc. That could be fun.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Why are all of these indie games?

 

[bbeach123]

I bet they thought they could ride the hype of the ring of power when they started developing these game .

"$1 billion budget , How could I lose eh?"

 

[peronmls]

I enjoyed EAs Two Towers and Return of the king for PS2. I would like a remake of those. Other than that I don’t care about random LOTR lore to want a game not featuring the OG characters.