Kingdom Come: Deliverance franchise developer Warhorse Studios could be working on a brand new open-world game, this time taking place in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. As spotted by ResetEra user Hiberner Toujours, Polish gaming industry veteran Ryszard Chojnowski spoke about hearing from “credible sources” that Warhorse Studios is connected to the previously-reported game on a recent podcast.
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.
