Upcoming Lord of the Rings game Tales of the Shire promises fans the ultimate cozy Hobbit life simulation experience. Here’s what you need to know about when Tales of the Shire is coming out.
Tales of the Shire is slated for release on July 29, 2025. This is the game’s second release date and third release window. Wētā Workshop was originally targeting a 2024 launch, however, the developer later announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the game would ship on March 2025, instead. Then in February 2025, Wētā further revised its timelines, bumping Tales of the Shire to July.
On the plus side, it appears the PC and console versions will still arrive simultaneously. Indeed, that’s seemingly why Tales of the Shire keeps getting delayed. In its February 2025 statement, Wētā indicated it needed more time to fine-tune the Tales of the Shire experience “no matter where [people] play.” This stands in stark contrast to another recent Middle-earth title, 2023 survival-crafting effort The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. That game suffered a staggered release schedule, with the Xbox Series X/S port dropping almost a year after the Windows version.
Part of the reason for Return to Moria‘s disjointed debut was apparently scope creep. Publisher North Beach Games only announced the console ports of Return to Moria late in the game’s development cycle, which suggests it was originally a PC-only release. As such, developer Free Range Games presumably didn’t have the resources to get the console versions done in time.
Fortunately, Wētā and publisher Private Division conceived of Tales of the Shire as a cross-platform title early on. This should (and seemingly does) mean they’ve avoided a similar deadline bottleneck scenario – even if it has caused multiple false starts.
So, what will Tales of the Shire deliver when it finally arrives? The game’s official website talks up its customization options, including the ability to “[p]ersonalise your appearance and brandish your best Hobbit attire.” Players’ Hobbit-hole homes will boast similar freedom via a “grid-free placement” system for arranging “furniture home décor.”
Related: Is Tales of the Shire Coming to Nintendo Switch?
The Tales of the Shire website also promotes the game’s farming and cooking mechanics – you can even throw virtual dinner parties! Exploration is a major part of the gameplay experience, as well. This aspect of the game will include a trading system, with “iconic characters and familiar Hobbit families” among those you can trade with.
Tales of the Shire arrives on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows on March 25, 2025.
The above article was updated on 02/25/25 by the original author to include new information about Tales of the Shire.
