Is Warhorse Studios Making a Lord of the Rings Game? Here's What We Know
- Sagar Mankar
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Warhorse Studios, the Czech developer behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, has confirmed it is working on its next title, and while the studio is staying tight-lipped, all signs point to a major RPG that may be set in Tolkien's Middle-earth.
The speculation around a Lord of the Rings game from Warhorse has been building for some time now. According to Insider Gaming, a new open-world Lord of the Rings title has been in development with a reported $100 million investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office. The game was described as a third-person action RPG, and it was believed to be a project under the Embracer Group umbrella, which owns both Warhorse Studios and the Middle-earth gaming rights. The identity of the developer, however, had not been confirmed officially.
That changed slightly when Ryszard Chojnowski, a former project lead on The Witcher and a localization specialist, appeared on the Tolkien Polska podcast recently. He claimed that it is indeed Warhorse behind this Lord of the Rings project. Chojnowski admitted that he was initially skeptical when he first heard the news, but with growing reports and rumors from multiple directions, his confidence in the claim grew.
Of course, none of this is official, and Chojnowski himself acknowledged he could have been misinformed.
When fans took the chance to ask Warhorse directly during a recent Reddit AMA, the studio chose its words very carefully. Community manager Tom Grey replied to one curious fan, saying: "Obviously we can't comment on future projects, at least not until we're in the future (but if you have a time machine, please show us!)." Content director Ondřej Bittner followed that up with: "We are hard at work on... something. I cannot disclose details but I can tell it is a huge, immersive RPG."
That is not a denial. And for many fans, the fact that Warhorse did not shoot down the rumor outright is telling in itself.
Bittner added in a separate response that whatever the next project turns out to be, it "will definitely be an RPG true to our colours, huge, story-driven and immersive."
What makes the prospect of a Warhorse-developed Lord of the Rings game especially exciting is what Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 demonstrated. The game was a massive commercial and critical success, selling over five million copies and earning award nominations including at the BAFTA Games Awards. Its commitment to deep systems, grounded storytelling, and immersive world-building made it one of the standout RPGs in recent memory. Those qualities would translate naturally into a Tolkien setting, which demands a similar level of craft and attention to detail.
Meanwhile, the Lord of the Rings franchise has had a rough run in gaming lately. Titles such as The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and Tales of the Shire both failed to make any meaningful impact on the market or with audiences. The last truly notable entry in the space was Middle-earth: Shadow of War back in 2017.
It is also worth noting that there are separate reports suggesting Crystal Dynamics may be developing its own Lord of the Rings title, meaning Tolkien's world could be making a significant return to gaming on multiple fronts.
For now, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has received its final piece of DLC, and the team is fully focused on whatever comes next. Viktor Höschl, Head of Art at Warhorse, confirmed during the AMA that there is "no more content planned for KCD2, aside from possible patches."
