Wētā Workshop And Private Division Release First Teaser Trailer for New ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Game ‘Tales Of The Shire’
John F. Trent
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Wētā Workshop and Private Division released a short teaser trailer for their upcoming game Tales of the Shire.
Tales of the Shire (2024), Private Division
The teaser trailer does not show any kind of gameplay, but does show what appears to be a Hobbit humming to herself and painting with water colors in a book.
The book’s pages then flip to various other paintings that show various types of food, other types of holes in the ground, sign posts, birds, flowers, and more.
It’s unclear what the game play will look like. The official description for the game states, “Your cosy Hobbit life awaits in Tales of the Shire, a heart-warming, new, The Lord of the Rings™ game.”
The game is expected to be released sometime in 2024 for PC as well as consoles. However, it’s unclear which consoles.
Tales of the Shire (2024), Private Division
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While the game did not have a title at the time, it does appear to be the game that the two companies announced back in August 2022. In that announcement, Private Division revealed that “Middle-earth Enterprises have licensed the literary works of the series, providing Wētā Workshop with the broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books.”
Take-Two Interactive Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Private Division Michael Worosz commented on the game at the time, “We are thrilled to partner with Wētā Workshop to publish a game set in such an extraordinary and celebrated universe.”
He added, “The Lord of the Rings IP is home to so many remarkable stories, and no entity is better equipped than the team at Wētā Workshop to create a distinctive, new Middle-earth gaming experience.”
Tales of the Shire (2024), Private Division
Head of Interactive at Wētā Workshop Amie Wolken also stated at the time, “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.”
She added, “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.”
In that initial release they revealed the game was “expected to launch during Take-Two’s Fiscal Year 2024.”
Ian McKellen as Gandalf arrives in The Shire in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema
Private Division’s parent company Embracer Group announced an aggressive strategy when it comes to The Lord of the Rings, which they acquired last year.
The company’s Interim Chief Operations Officer Matthew Karch revealed he planned on exploiting the franchise. He said, “I mean we own The Lord of the Rings. We know we need to be exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion and turning it into one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world. And that’s obviously something that we are going to be doing. That’s a much better use of resources than some of the other projects that some of our teams have been working on.”
Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee and Sarah McLeod as Rosie Cotton in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The franchise is currently on shaky ground when it comes to adaptations with Prime Video’s The Rings of Power series being reviled many viewers. One rumor claims that the Prime Video series lost 63% of its domestic audience.
Not only has The Rings of Power been reviled, but German developer Daedalic Entertainment closed down its development studio after they released The Lord of the Rings: Gollum earlier this year.
Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2022), Daedalic Entertainment, Nacon
What do you make of this teaser trailer for Tales of the Shire? Are you interested in seeing more about it?
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