During a celebratory Hobbit Day Showcase earlier today, Private Division and Weta Workshop announced the release date for their upcoming Hobbit-themed life sim, Tales Of The Shire. After recently being delayed out of 2024, the game will now launch on March 25, 2025.
Tales Of The Shire takes the world of The Lord Of The Rings away from the action-packed battles fans are used to, instead focusing on The Shire and its many Hobbit inhabitants. Players will create their own Hobbit, move into one of the many hobbit hole homes in Bywater, and become a member of Hobbit society.
Do the fish in Bywater have big hairy feet too?
Player tasks will include gathering ingredients for breakfast–and second breakfast–as well as fishing, gardening, and decorating their hobbit home. Bywater will be filled with other hobbit NPCs, who will assign quests, trade for rare items, and give advice to the new hobbit in town on how to fit in.
Tales Of The Shire will be the first game released by Weta Workshop’s video game division, which was originally established in 2014. The company is more commonly known for movie effects–including recent releases Alien: Romulus and Dune Part Two, as well as another Tolkienian project in The Rings Of Power on Amazon Prime.
Hobbit Day–the reason for this Tales Of The Shire stream–is part of Tolkien Week, an annual week-long celebration of The Lord Of The Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien’s many works. Hobbit Day specifically occurs every year on September 22, know to LOTR fans as the birthday of arguably the two most important Hobbits, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
Tales Of The Shire will launch March 25, 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and mobile devices via Netflix Games.
