While noting that the Kingdom Come: Deliverance studio could be working on their own take on the acclaimed fantasy universe, Crystal Dynamics is allegedly the developer of this particular project. This is according to “those close to the game’s development,” but the studio and the Embracer Group declined to comment.

Apparently meant to compete with Hogwarts Legacy, the project is allegedly being developed with $100 million in funding from Abu Dhabi Investment Office. It’s reportedly a “bit away” as of now (same as last September), even though development has seemingly been ongoing for a while.

Of course, Crystal Dynamics has other projects in the works, such as Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst. The former is launching this year and offers a retelling of the series’ first title on Unreal Engine 5. The latter, out next year, takes place years after the events of Tomb Raider: Underworld, and promises to be the franchise’s biggest adventure yet.

Is it possible that the studio ramps up production on The Lord of the Rings RPG after Legacy of Atlantis or perhaps after Catalyst is out? Time will tell, but it would be interesting to see how it tackles Tolkien’s work.

A key thing to note is that, at the time, Embracer Group and Revenge were said to be involved in this project. Warhorse Studios is a subsidiary of PLAION, which in turn is part of the larger Embracer Group umbrella. It also helps that the latter holds the game adaptation rights for The Lord of the Rings since 2022.

The report from back in September has indicated that development is being funded at least partially by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which has put $100 million into the project. The deal was seemingly in the works for an entire year prior to the report. Embracer Group itself hasn’t yet made any comment on this project, noting that, as “a general rule, we do not comment on rumors or speculation.” The report also indicated that The Lord of the Rings game would primarily “compete with Hogwarts Legacy,” in offering an open-world title based on a major fantasy IP.

If these reports turn out to be true, Warhorse’s take on The Lord of the Rings might end up being the most ambitious game that the franchise has seen. The closest we’ve gotten to anything of this scale with Tolkien’s works was 2007’s MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Since then, adaptations of the franchise have mostly revolved around more focused experiences that revolve around one or two of its aspects.

We’ve seen it adapted into a wide variety of genres, from real-time strategy games like the Battle for Middle-earth franchise, to MOBAs. The 2010s also saw the now-defunct developer Monolith Productions try its hand at open-world The Lord of the Rings titles with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. While impressive in their own right, especially thanks to the critically-acclaimed Nemesis system, the two titles wouldn’t really be comparable to one made by Warhorse Studios—a studio known for its systems-based approach to game design.

The most recent game based on Tolkien’s work was Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, which came out in July 2025 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Rather than presenting players with a grand adventure, however, Tales of the Shire instead focused on the relaxed life of a Hobbit, allowing players to live in the Shire as they made friends and joined the local community.

2023 also saw the release of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria—a co-op-oriented game that put players in the shoes of four Dwarves who have decided to visit Khazad-dûm in the Fourth Age. In our review, we gave it a five out of ten, praising its set-up, atmosphere, lore and gameplay loop while criticising its unwieldy combat and lackluster animations.

“This round of lay-offs is due to two individual things,” said Henderson in a recent video. “First of all, [Eidos Montreal] are working internally on quite a big project.” He went on to describe this big project as an open world third-person action adventure title, with the team working on this being the same one that did Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This game, he noted, has been in development since 2019, and is known internally as P11 – marking it as the eleventh project in development at Eidos Montreal.

Henderson then confirmed that the studio is now on P22, which indicates that 11 different projects had been conceptualised since 2019. It is worth noting that, since then, Eidos Montreal has only released a single title – 2021’s Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. This means that the studio has worked on at least 10 other projects in the time since then without having released any game since 2021.

The lay-offs, Henderson noted, were specifically related to P11, with the studio now beginning to ramp down the project’s headcount. “So you know like conceptualisation, and all of the systems and all that kind of stuff has been complete and they’re gearing up for beta and that game is scheduled tor release next year,” explained Henderson.

The Lord of the Rings game, according to Henderson, was the other big project in the works at Eidos Montreal. This comes down to the fact that the studio’s parent company, Embracer Group, has the rights to make games based on The Lord of the Rings. “So it seems like they’re just trying to cash in on that particular IP,” he said. “I don’t blame them or whatever, but it was related to that project. It didn’t really go far in development. It was a Lord of the Rings card game with like a Telltale spin, like a story spin on it is how it was described to me. The cancellations were related to that particular project.”

Henderson also reiterated the fact that Eidos Montreal had some of its employees – numbered at “around” 20 – working on Kojima Productions’ upcoming horror title OD.

Since the lay-offs at Eidos Montreal, reports started coming up of some of the projects that the studio had worked on before they got cancelled. These reports cited the CV of one of the now-former employees at the studio, with one of the more interesting cancelled projects having been a reboot of Legacy of Kain. However, this project was noted as having been cancelled several years ago, shortly after the studio was acquired by its current parent company Embracer Group. This cancelled project was noted as not being too far into development before being cancelled.

“This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y’all would have loved it),” wrote Amrine in the since-deleted post. Amazon has yet to make any definitive statement about the fate of the project.

An MMORPG based on The Lord of the Rings was first announced all the way back in May 2023, and was being developed by the team behind New World. The title was slated to be part of a licensing agreement that was signed between Amazon Games and Middle-earth Enterprises, which in turn is owned by Embracer Group.

Few details about the project had been confirmed, aside from the fact that it would feature the stories of the four core books from The Lord of the Rings – The Hobbit, Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The title was also slated to feature a persistent world where players could explore Middle-earth to quite an extent.

The cancellation of the project likely stems from the fact that Amazon is laying off more than 14,000 of its employees across various divisions, including its gaming studios. In an internal memo, the company said that its plans for game development going forward will revolve around “casual and AI-focused games”. It had also noted that development on the Tomb Raider title by Crystal Dynamics is also continuing.

Alongside the employees affected by the lay-offs, one of the bigger casualties of this has been Amazon Game Studios’ announcement that New World: Aeternum will no longer be getting any more content. The recently-released Season 10 and Nighthaven will serve as the final bit of content made for the MMORPG, and the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion has also been made free to PC players.

“As New World recognizes its fourth anniversary since launching on PC, we reflect on an incredible journey shaped by our dedicated player community,” wrote Amazon Game Studios in its announcement. “Your feedback and passion have been instrumental in evolving Aeternum into the world it is today, and our team is deeply grateful for this shared adventure. After four years of steady content updates and a major new console release, we’ve reached a point where it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game with new content updates.”

While there might not be any more content coming to New World: Aeternum, the studio has made assurances that the servers for the MMORPG will remain live until the end of 2026. Any changes to these plans are also slated to be announced with at least six months of notice provided to players.

Along with ADIO, the funding of the Lord of the Rings game is also being handled by a host of different companies, including Embracer and Revenge. Embracer’s presence in this project shouldn’t come as a surprise since it has held rights for the IP since 2022. However, the company, when asked for comment, said “a general rule, we do not comment on rumors or speculation.”

While no new Lord of the Rings game has been announced as of yet, this in-development title is expected to be revealed “soon”, with Insider Gaming’s report noting that it could happen next week. The report also noted that it was going to be a third-person action game, and is being developed to “compete with Hogwarts Legacy”. This likely means that it will also be an open-world adventure title.

The Lord of the Rings franchise has seen many video game adaptations, from classic strategy games like the Battle for Middle-earth series, to MOBAs, and even an MMORPG in the form of The Lord of the Rings Online. Over the last decade, we’ve also seen adaptations in the form of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Shadow of War. Most recently, we saw the release of stealth adventure title The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, as well as cozy life sim Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game.

Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game was the most recent of these releases, having come out back in July. It is available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, and you can check out more details about it in our review.

Another interesting take on the franchise in terms of premise and gameplay mechanics was 2923’s The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. The title had players take on the role of Dwarves trapped in the mines of Moria as part of a disastrous attempt to return to the underground city. In terms of gameplay, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria focused on survival and crafting mechanics, with players also being encouraged to venture deeper into a procedurally-generated take on the city of Moria and its surrounding caves in order to get their hands on more crafting materials.

2023 also saw the disastrous release of another Lord of the Rings project – The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. As the title might imply, players take control of Gollum in search for his “precious” – the One Ring. The events of the game take place before Gollum encounters Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins who are on their own quest to destroy the One Ring.

If you’re interested in checking out The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, check out our thoughts on what went wrong with the game.

As spotted by Games Wirtschaft, it seems Daedalic Entertainment received a grant worth a little over €2 million in June last year from the Federal Ministry for Economics Affairs and Climate Action in Germany. The grant mentions it pertains to the development of “a new project that will transport the player into a lush world full of mythical creatures and magic” and “tells a story from a character’s perspective that has never been told before”.

While that description might make it seem like it’s just talking about the recently-released The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Games Wirtschaft reports that the grant money has not been used for its development, and is instead related to the development of a different project based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. As per the grant, the project’s completion is currently planned for the second half of 2024, with development seemingly having started last year.

If this is indeed for a new Lord of the Rings game, will it be a direct follow-up to Gollum, or will it perhaps be focused on a different character?

Sure, I’ll play The Lord of the Rings: Treebeard.

Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann stated, “We’re committed to bringing players high-quality games, whether through original IPs or long-beloved ones like The Lord of the Rings.

“Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world. We’re also pleased to be expanding our relationship with Embracer Group following our Tomb Raider deal last year, as they’ve proven to be excellent collaborators.”

Embracer Freemode CEO Lee Guinchard also said, “The world of Middle-earth continues to prove endlessly fertile ground for creators and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience.

“We have the clear ambition to create the highest-quality entertainment products for this IP, whether we utilize internal resources or team up with the best industry partners that complement our capabilities. We’re taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world.”

The MMO will take place in a persistent version of Middle-earth and features the stories of The Lord of the Rings trilogy – The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King – and The Hobbit. Of course, this isn’t the only Lord of the Rings title in the works. Daedalic Entertainment’s The Lord of the Rings: Gollum arrives in May, while Free Range Games’ The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is out this Spring.

Electronic Arts’ The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth is also still in the works, and Private Division is working with Weta Workshop (which was heavily involved with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films) on an untitled game set in Middle-earth. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

In its recent quarterly fiscal report, the Embracer Group revealed that it has five The Lord of the Rings games lined up for release in FY 2023/24, which runs from April 2023 to March 2024, coming from external development partners.

“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,” the company wrote. “There are currently five games in production by external partners, to be released in financial year 2023/24.”

Four out of these five games have been officially confirmed to be in development so far, including Nacon and Daedalic Entertainment’s The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, EA’s mobile title The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth, Free Range Games and published by North Beach Games’ co-op survival title The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, and Private Division and Weta Workshop’s untitled Middle-earth game.

So how exactly does the Embracer Group plan on utilizing the IP? Given the company’s presence in the games industry, we can probably expect new titles down the line, but what does Embracer have planned outside of games?

Speaking in an interview with EDGE magazine (via MP1st), Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors spoke about the same briefly, and said that the company is taking the long-term view with the IP and is thinking “decades ahead” about how to use it to its fullest potential.

“We wouldn’t acquire the brand of Lord of the Rings if we were just thinking to maximise that potential over the coming year,” Wingefors said. “You need to think decades ahead. And that’s how we will continue to think about this.”

Further details aren’t coming just yet, of course, but there’s massive potential in the property (not that it isn’t already massive enough). It should be interesting to see how the Embracer Group uses it, not just in games, but in other media as well.

For those unaware, Middle-Earth Enterprises owns and oversees the intellectual property catalogue and rights to films, video games, merchandising, theme parks, and more relating to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins.

That’s right, the Embracer Group just owns all of The Lord of the Rings now, not just the license to develop games based on it.

“I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group,” said the Embracer Group’s CEO and founder Lars Wingefors. “I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio.”

“We at the Zaentz Company have had the honor over the past half century of stewarding the Tolkien rights so that Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fans worldwide could enjoy award winning epic films, challenging video games, first rate theatre and merchandise of every variety,” said Marty Glick, COO of The Saul Zaentz Company. “We could not be more thrilled that it is Embracer now taking up the responsibility and we are confident their group will take it to new heights and dimensions while maintaining homage to the spirit of these great literary works.”

This is one of several recent acquisitions made by the Embracer Group, with the company also purchasing game development studios like Tripwire Interactive, Limited Run Games, Tuxedo Labs, and more. Read more on that through here.