Private Division, the publisher behind The Outer Worlds and Hades, is partnering with The Lord of the Rings film trilogy special effects house Weta Workshop on an all-new video game set in Middle Earth.
On Thursday, the project’s official announcement went live. It’s still early in production, so there isn’t any information outside the fact that it exists. Michael Worosz, chief strategy officer at Take-Two Interactive and head of Private Division, provided some slight context.
“We are thrilled to partner with Weta Workshop to publish a game set in such an extraordinary and celebrated universe,” Worosz said in a press release. “The Lord of the Rings IP is home to so many remarkable stories, and no entity is better equipped than the team at Weta Workshop to create a distinctive, new Middle-earth gaming experience.”
The game is slated to release in Take-Two’s fiscal year of 2024. So don’t expect this one anytime soon. Despite what the setting implies, it won’t have anything to do with the popular Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor or Shadow of War, either. Or the upcoming Lord of The Rings: Gollum title from Daedalic Entertainment and Nacon, for that matter.
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
“It’s a privilege to create a new game set in Middle-earth, especially one that’s so different from what fans have played previously,” Amie Wolken, head of interactive at Weta Workshop, said in the same press release. “As fans ourselves, we’re excited for gamers to explore Middle-earth in a way they never have before, and introduce new fans to the magic of The Lord of the Rings.”
There’s been plenty of great Lord of the Rings games over the years, but it’s exciting to see Weta Workshop is heavily involved in one. Last November, the company claimed it was working on a major video game series. It’s unlikely that this is the same project, though.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
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