A new Lord Of The Rings title is being developed by Crystal Dynamics according to reports, which is hoping to rival Hogwarts Legacy.
After 2017’s Middle-earth: Shadow Of War, games based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings have been middling at best.
We’ve had The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, Tales Of The Shire, and survival title Return To Moria over recent years – and none of them have made any impact. In fact, the creator’s of the last good Lord Of The Rings game, Monolith Productions, were shut down last year.
While nothing has been confirmed in regards to future titles, some hope emerged through a report last year which claimed a new third-person action game based on the franchise was in development. It was said to involve multiple parties, including Embracer (who own the IP for Lord Of The Rings video games) and an unknown studio called Revenge.
Now, according to Insider Gaming, another studio working on the game is Crystal Dynamics, which is currently developing Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst. The former is being developed in conjunction with Flying Wild Hog, so it’s perhaps possible Crystal Dynamics is juggling another project at the same time.
It’s claimed the title has been in development for some time but it is still ‘a bit away’ from actually coming out. In the original report, it was described as an action game designed to ‘compete with Hogwarts Legacy’ – which suggests it’s big in scope.
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The title was apparently partially funded by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), with their investment equating to roughly $100 million (£74.4 million).
Crystal Dynamics isn’t the only studio seemingly connected to a Lord Of The Rings project. A rumour recently emerged on ResetEra that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios were actually working on the aforementioned title, and while this has been refuted by Insider Gaming, they claim ‘it’s possible they are working on one’ as well, just not this specific game.
That means there’s potentially two new major Lord Of The Rings games in development right now, although it’s worth taking this all with a pinch of salt at the moment.
Beyond new titles, a rumour last month suggested a forgotten Xbox 360 Lord Of The Rings game, 2011’s War In The North, might be getting the remaster treatment from Aspyr.
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