Lord Of The Rings RPG Gets Official Update In Disastrous Q&A

Rumor has it a new The Lord of the Rings game is in development by none other than Warhorse Studios, creator of the beloved Kingdom Come: Deliverance duology. The project leaked last year, and subsequent rumblings suggested Warhorse’s trademark, systems-heavy, immersive gameplay would be grafted onto Middle-earth. The studio has more recently been embroiled in controversy, though, and the only official word on the supposed open-world LOTR RPG has come during a truly disastrous Q&A session hosted by the developers.

A group of high-level developers from Warhorse Studios held an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit, and most of the questions posed scathingly inquired about the company’s recent firing of a translator, who suggested they’d been made obsolete in favor of AI-generated localization. One question, however, fished for some sort of confirmation on the leaked LOTR project, assuming “there won’t be a response,” but Warhorse Content Director Ondřej Bittner gave the studio’s first official stance on the rumors:

“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.”

–Ondřej Bittner, Content Director at Warhorse Studios

It’s effectively a non-answer, to be sure, but it’s potentially telling nonetheless. The LOTR RPG leak initially came from Insider Gaming, which has a fairly reliable track record concerning reports of unannounced games, though Warhorse was not rumored to be attached at that point. A Polish industry insider then claimed it was the Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer that was taking the reins (see this summary on ResetEra). Bittner’s response isn’t going to please anyone hoping for early confirmation of the rumored new Lord of the Rings game, but it’s crucially not a denial.

It’s also reassuring – both to LOTR hopefuls and Warhorse fans – that Bittner has confirmed the studio’s next game is “a huge, immersive RPG.” Warhorse Studios’ only two releases thus far are KCD and its sequel, both of which garnered widespread acclaim for their immersive simulation and survival elements and breadth of roleplaying content. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 even earned a Game of the Year nomination at the 2025 edition of The Game Awards.

Much of the good will garnered from KCD2‘s success, however, has evaporated with the company’s apparent turn to AI translations. This AMA seems, at least in part, to be an effort to address the situation. In a pinned comment, a statement from Warhorse looks to reassure disillusioned fans, saying, “We do not see AI as a substitute for human work, and we are currently looking to expand the company, including our translation team.”

It is not, however, an outright denial of generative AI use in development at Warhorse Studios. The statement reiterates that some developers find such tools “useful during early stages of production,” but tries to ease concerns by asserting that Warhorse “[does] not use AI-generated content in the final game.” Similar stances have proven controversial for other companies in the gaming industry. AI “art” generated as placeholder assets has regularly been overlooked and included in final releases (The Alters, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Crimson Desert), and is consistently met with vitriol.

Warhorse’s vague statement doesn’t clarify how AI tools are being utilized, which is unlikely to assuage the concerns of many, as evidenced by the train wreck of an AMA that occurred. Only time will tell how this impacts the studio’s next project, whether it’s the rumored The Lord of the Rings RPG or not.

Cast

Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt

Created by

J.R.R. Tolkien