More Classic Lord of the Rings Games Coming After War in the North Re-Release, Aspyr Confirms

Aspyr has confirmed plans to bring more classic Lord of the Rings games to modern platforms, following the surprise release of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North on current systems.

In a press release for the new War in the North version, Aspyr teased future releases: "The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition is licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and is the first The Lord of the Rings title released by Aspyr," the statement reads. "Fans can look forward to even more classic releases by Aspyr from the beloved franchise in the future!"

The last sentence is the key hint, confirming that more re-releases of classic LOTR games are on the horizon. Which titles will follow remains unclear, but there are several possibilities. Aspyr has a strong track record of bringing games to Nintendo Switch, so it wouldn't be surprising if they ported Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War to the Switch 2 in the future. However, fans are likely hoping for re-releases of the EA-published titles from the early 2000s.

Those include the movie tie-in games from the PS2 era, such as the critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, which is essentially Star Wars: Battlefront set in Middle-earth. While the latter received mixed reviews, it has a dedicated fanbase. There are also beloved strategy games like Battle for Middle-earth that fans would love to revisit. Whether rights issues will affect these releases is uncertain, given EA's involvement.

Although Warner Bros. holds the rights to the franchise, licensed games from that era often face complex rights complications (as seen with Activision's Marvel games). We've reached out to Aspyr for clarification on whether the EA titles are possible, but regardless, more classic LOTR games are heading to modern hardware.