There’s a new The Lord of the Rings game on the way, courtesy of Private Division and Wētā Workshop.
Announced yesterday, Private Division will be publishing the as-yet-unnamed title, set in Middle Earth and developed by Wētā Workshop’s new games development division. If you’re wondering why Wētā sounds so familiar, the company were responsible for the effects in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies.
They’re also working on Amazon’s new The Lord of the Rings series which, naturally, means this upcoming game has to be set in the LotR cinematic universe, right? Not exactly – surprisingly enough, this new game is, according to Private Division’s statement:
“..a new game set in the Middle-earth universe of J.R.R. Tolkien. Middle-earth Enterprises have licensed the literary works of the series, providing Wētā Workshop with the broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books.”
We’re thrilled to announce that we have partnered with @WetaWorkshop to publish a new game set in the literary Middle-earth universe of J.R.R. Tolkien. We look forward to sharing more about the project in the future! pic.twitter.com/z9HxvXe7Da
— Private Division (@PrivateDivision) August 15, 2022
In other words, it looks as if Private Division and Wētā are going back to the books, instead of drawing directly from the movies. Is that a good thing? Absolutely – there’s plenty of material from the Lord of the Rings books that never made into the movies.
We’re hoping against hope that this Lord of the Rings game takes a leaf out of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’s book and takes place a few thousand years before the Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy or any of Tolkein’s other work. Why? Because it’d give Wētā freedom to write their own story, one that would surprise both new players and long-term LotR fans alike.
Private Division has promised to reveal more information about the game later down the like. Right now, we know it’s pencilled in for release during Take Two’s fiscal year (Take Two own Private Division) it should arrive between April 2023 to March 2024.
