Publisher Private Division unveiled a trailer for developer Wētā Workshop's upcoming hobbit-centric The Lord of the Rings video game, Tales of the Shire.
The brief promotional video gave fans a preliminary look at the upcoming video game, which will reportedly be a "heart-warming" experience focused on the quaint lives of the beloved hairy-footed inhabitants of the titular Shire. Though gameplay footage was not included, the trailer teased several of the iconic locales from author J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novel series, such as the village of Bywater and its iconic Green Dragon inn.
Wētā Workshop's games division is heading development for Tales of the Shire. The games studio was established back in 2014, though the company itself was founded long before that in 1984 as a props and special effects studio. Wētā Workshop was also notably best known for its work on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film series and The Hobbit movie trilogy. It was similarly involved with the production of Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power streaming series.
Embracer Group Acquires Middle-earth Enterprises
Tales of the Shire is likely part of Swedish video game and media holding company Embracer Group's reported plans to focus development on its well-known internal IPs. Embracer acquired Middle-earth Enterprises, the company that owned the exclusive licensing rights to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, back in 2022 for $395 million. "I mean, we own Lord of the Rings, and we know we need to be exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion and turning that into one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world, and that's obviously something we're going to be doing," said Embracer's interim chief operation officer Matthew Karch.
Embracer's strategy of focusing production on beloved IPs like The Lord of the Rings will likely guide its approach to game development for the foreseeable future, as CEO Lars Wingefors previously attributed the group's stellar Quarter 1 performance to Tolkien's beloved epic fantasy series. "It is encouraging to see many exciting external projects based on this incredible IP, including the recently successfully released Magic: The Gathering trading card game The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, the upcoming PC/Console survival-crafting game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria as well as many other exciting new products that will grow the IP further," Wingefors reported during a meeting with company shareholders.
Tales of the Shire is scheduled for release in 2024 for PC and consoles.
Source: YouTube