Private Division to publish new LOTR game from dedicated Wētā Workshop studio

A new Lord of the Rings game is in the works and it is set to be published by Take-Two Interactive publishing label Private Division, according to a press release from Private Division and developer Wētā Workshop.

The new game will be set in the Middle-earth universe and the developers will have “the broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books,” with Middle-earth Enterprises licensing the complete written saga. The game has an expected launch date during Take-Two’s fiscal year 2024, meaning as early as April 1, 2023, and as late as March 31, 2024.

The team at Wētā Workshop has promised something unique, with Amie Wolken, head of interactive at Wētā Workshop saying that the game will be “different from what fans have played previously,” and will allow players to “explore Middle-earth in a way they never have before.”

Private Division is a subsidiary of the massive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. that owns two of the biggest publishing labels in the world in Rockstar Games and 2K. Private Division was founded in 2017 with a focus on publishing indie games made by small to mid-sized studios, in contrast to the triple-A titles released by the other two Take-Two publishers. Since its founding, Private Division has published a handful of critically acclaimed titles such as Kerbal Space Program, The Outer Worlds, and Hades.

Wētā Workshop is relatively new to game development but has made a huge impact on film and television in the special effects and prop department. The studio is renowned for the special effects and miniatures work it did for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and has worked on several other prominent projects in film such as Avatar and Dune. Wētā Workshop is also working on the soon-to-be-released The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power television show on Amazon Prime.

Wētā Workshop hinted at work on an LOTR title back in 2021 via a job listing that was hiring for a “PC and console game project with a major worldwide IP that is very close to [its] hearts.”