Kingdom Come Deliverance Devs Announce Middle-Earth/Lord of the Rings Open World RPG...!

TL;DR

Warhorse Studios officially announced an open-world Middle-Earth RPG alongside a new Kingdom Come adventure, backed by ~$100M from Abu Dhabi investors.

Key Points

• 1.Warhorse Studios confirmed an open-world Middle-Earth RPG via tweet on May 20, 2026. The announcement went viral within hours, accumulating nearly 10 million views and tens of thousands of likes, validating widespread excitement for a quality Lord of the Rings game.
• 2.The project is funded by roughly $100 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office. Parent company Embracer Group holds the Lord of the Rings video game IP rights, acquired in 2022 for $400 million, and is licensing the IP to Warhorse for this title.
• 3.Rumors of this project surfaced as early as October 2025 via Insider Gaming, then gained credibility in March 2026 when a Polish industry veteran cited multiple credible sources pointing to Warhorse as the developer — confirming what many had dismissed as too good to be true.
• 4.The Middle-Earth RPG will be Warhorse's biggest game by far, dwarfing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's $41 million budget. The presenter compares this leap to CD Projekt Red's jump from The Witcher 2 to The Witcher 3, signaling a new AAA tier for the studio.
• 5.Alongside the RPG, a new Kingdom Come adventure — not confirmed as Deliverance 3 — could release as soon as mid-2027. Embracer described it as in full development but smaller in scale, likely a spin-off or expansion before Warhorse shifts full focus to the Middle-Earth project.