Looks like gaming is back on the menu! Warhorse Games announces a new LOTR game built upon the engine and experience of the award-winning Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
In a tweet, Warhorse describes it as an open world RPG set in Middle-earth and adds “We’re excited to tell you more when the time is right.” Warhorse is owned by Embracer Group.
Introducing Fellowship a publicly traded company
In business news, Embracer Group has announced it’s splitting the company into a new publicly traded entity. Fellowship Entertainment will be traded on NASDAQ Sweden and house several companies that own & develop popular franchises.
In a press release, Embracer says “Fellowship will be one business segment with one strategy and business plan. The main rationale to spin-off Fellowship is to increase management focus to capture the full joint potential of the IPs, their respective communities and some of the best game developers in the world.”
AAA level experiences
The announcement says a goal is to deliver at least 2 high quality AAA products every year starting next year 2027. While we are unsure if this is in-house stuff from the Embracer family of board and video games, already there are two big releases in the works for 2027: Amazon’s huge TOMB RAIDER show, and Andy Serkis’ THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM feature film.
Here’s a list of the IP they call out in the announcement which Fellowship will be seeking top quality entertainment & experiences to develop.
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Tomb Raider
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Dead Island
Darksiders
Remnant
Metro
Saints Row
Legacy of Kain
Deus Ex
Red Faction
The Mask
Thief
TimeSplitters
The companies that will be part of Fellowship Entertainment are:
Middle Earth Enterprises
Dark Horse Comics / Media
4A Games
Crystal Dynamics
Dambuster Studios
Eidos-Montréal
Fishlabs
Flying Wild Hog Studios
Gunfire Games
Redoctane Games
Warhorse Studios
The Business of Lord of the Rings
LOTR has made an interesting journey in the business world. If you want to learn more about how we got here, check out THE FRODO FRANCHISE now on Audible. Enter to win a free copy of the book at the bottom of the recent article here.
As we shared last week, fans can now start collecting figures from the 1978 Ralph Bakshi The Lord of the Rings animated film. The collectibles are made by our friends at Dark Horse Direct. Set One includes figures of Aragorn, Frodo, and Samwise – which are available right now to pre-order. We’re pleased to announce the folks at Dark Horse Direct have three more members of The Fellowship coming fans’ way.
Set Two of The Lord of the Rings series, which is available for pre-order starting today, includes Boromir son of Gondor, Merry, and Pippin. The size of the figures range from 5″ for the Hobbits to 7.5″ tall for Boromir. This set, like Set One, comes in with a price tag of $89 for all three statues. However, if you pre-order this set from Dark Horse Direct you can save $10 on your order; but that’s not even the best deal we have for you today in this announcement! When ordering both Set One and Set Two from Dark Horse Direct, fans can save $15! Set Two is due to ship in Q1 of next year.
For the next couple of years we’re in 25th Anniversary territory for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies. If you’re nostalgic for the heady days of epic fandom (and for some of us, obsession!), or if you are just curious about exactly how some of the legal wrangling went down, then you need to explore author Kristin Thompson’s The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood. And it’s now available on Audible!
Thompson is a long-time friend of TheOneRing.net, often providing us with her expert insight into the machinations of the movie industry. Her book is a fascinating look at one of the very biggest of movie franchises/fandoms – and a wonderful trip down memory lane for those of us who remember all the excitement, build up, merchandise, etc. around the turn of the millennium and for a decade thereafter.
Thompson’s book is extremely well researched and full of facts and figures – but it’s never boring. Here’s what TORn wrote around the time that the book first came out:
Kristin Thompson interviewed seventy-six people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.
Narrator ‘The Voice of Nick’ is very easy to listen to. The audiobook edition includes a new epilogue written for this release, in honor of the 25th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring movie. There’s even a section in the book all about the origins of TORn, plus coverage of the surrounding fan and media ecosystem (video games, licensed promotions, New Zealand tourism, and more).
A must listen (or read, if you prefer!) for any fan, we have five codes for Audible (US region) for free download, to giveaway to five lucky folks! To be in with a chance to be a random winner, click here. Good luck – and if you’re not a luck winner, get your Audible copy here.
One of the most popular Middle-earth exclusives at San Diego Comic Con every year is the amazing art that comes from our friend Jerry Vanderstelt. SDCC 2026 will be here in just a couple of months, and it’s time for fans who will be there to pre-order Vanderstelt’s SDCC 2026 Exclusive. Collectors can – for the first time ever – get Vanderstelt’s beautiful Rivendell art print in the 12×16 format. Only 400 fans who are going to be at SDCC can pre-order this right now and pick it up during Comic-Con, with the final 100 being saved to be sold during the show. Do not hesitate on getting this now, because it won’t last at the show – and at just $22, these pre-order ones will be gone long before SDCC rolls around!
In 1978 Ralph Bakshi’s animated film based on The Lord of the Rings arrived to the masses, and many fans got a chance to see their favorite characters come to life. Not to mention all the folks that would become lifelong Tolkien fans, discovering the story for the first time through the movie. Now nearly 50 years later, the amazing folks at Dark Horse Direct and Middle-earth Enterprises are giving fans of Middle-earth a chance to own collectibles from that film.
Right now fans can order Set One, which features three characters from the film. Set One will include Aragorn, Frodo, and Samwise. The Hobbits will come in at just under 5″ tall and Aragorn will be just over 6″ tall. They are made of PVC. As you can see from these high def photos, they’re very well done and match exactly what so many saw in those films all those years ago. Set One comes in with a price tag of $89.99 with a shipping date in Q4 of 2026.
Stay tuned for news of more Dark Horse collecetibles, coming soon!
Already a week has passed since Middle-earth March Madness for 2026 came to a close. Thanks to all who voted, discussed, debated, and generally played along! This year our theme was ‘Clash of the Collectibles’; our team of volunteer staffers offered their own favourite collectibles, and then we voted to get that down to 64 items, which became our opening bracket:
Three weeks and six rounds of voting ensued. With thousands of votes placed throughout the contest, we saw items we thought might go all the way – such as LEGO sets and Weta environments – fall in earlier rounds. Finally, just two items remained…
Stained glass vs DVDs
Talk about a David and Goliath match up! Some of the best selling DVDs of all time – the extended editions of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, in box set with collectible statues – versus hand-made, original designs from an independent artist, Geek Orthodox.
At first the contest seemed like it was going to be fairly one-sided, with the DVDs taking an early lead. Gradually, though, the stained glass came back. The final vote margin was 56% to 44% , with the winner being…
Congratulations to Geek Orthodox! A worthy champion, as a creator of unique, beautiful pieces – check them out here.
Here’s how the completed bracket looked:
Thanks again to all who joined the fun. If you have ideas for a future March Madness theme, please let us know – email spymaster@theonering.net See you same time, same place, next year!
Don’t forget, you can always join the discussion with fellow fans, at the Collectibles channel on our Discord.
