Warhorse Studios still is not confirming that it is making a Lord of the Rings game, but the studio has given fans just enough of an answer to keep the rumor alive.
The Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer was asked during a Reddit AMA whether reports of a Middle-earth project were true. Content director Ondrej Bittner did not name the game, but according to Rock Paper Shotgun's account of the exchange, he said the team is working on a large RPG.
"Voilá there is a response! But unfortunately not the one you hope for. We are hard at work on ... something. I cannot disclose details but I can tell it is a huge, immersive RPG."
That is not an announcement, and it should not be treated as one. It does, however, give the rumor more room to breathe than a flat denial would have. Community manager Tom Grey also avoided naming Warhorse's next project, saying the studio could not comment on future projects until it was "in the future."
Why the Warhorse rumor has traction
The latest comments land after weeks of speculation about which studio could be attached to a new Lord of the Rings game. Polish localization specialist Ryszard Chojnowski previously said on a Tolkien Polska podcast that he had heard Warhorse was involved, according to reports that circulated in March.
There is also a corporate reason the idea sounds plausible to fans. Embracer Group announced in 2022 that it had agreed to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises, including worldwide rights covering video games, merchandise, board games, films, theme parks and stage productions tied to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Warhorse sits under the same wider Embracer umbrella through Plaion and Deep Silver.
The caution is that the public rumor trail is messy. Insider Gaming recently reported that Crystal Dynamics is working on a separate upcoming Lord of the Rings game, while also noting that sources said Warhorse could still be attached to another project. Embracer and Crystal Dynamics declined to comment on that report.
A natural fit, but not a confirmed one
Warhorse is an obvious studio for players to imagine in Middle-earth. Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its sequel built the studio's reputation around large-scale first-person RPGs with dense historical worlds, grounded quest design and a slower style of immersion than many fantasy games.
That does not mean its next project is Tolkien-related. Bittner's wording could describe another Kingdom Come game, a new fantasy IP or something else entirely. The only firm detail from the AMA is that Warhorse is working on a "huge, immersive RPG."
Until Warhorse, Embracer or a rights holder names the project, the Lord of the Rings connection remains a rumor. The studio's non-answer is still notable because it keeps one of the more interesting possibilities in current RPG speculation on the table, especially for fans waiting for a big-budget single-player return to Middle-earth.