Just a few hours ago, as I write this, Aspyr shadow-dropped The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition, bringing the game into the modern era. But it seems like Aspyr is only getting started.

In a press release put out by Aspyr, the company straight-up says more The Lord of the Rings games are going to be released, although it doesn’t say which ones. That would be too easy.

“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,” says Aspyr. “Fans can look forward to even more classic releases by Aspyr from the beloved franchise in the future!”

There are a lot of The Lord of the Rings games awaiting rescue, but there are a couple in particular that any fan will immediately jump toward. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North was a good place to start because it was originally published by Warner Bros., while the underlying Lord of the Rings videogame licensing rights are now controlled by Middle-earth Enterprises, which is owned by Embracer. The somewhat forgotten about Aragorn’s Quest was also published by Warner Bros. so that might be a logical next step.

The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 1 & 2 are right at the tippity-top of the list for myself. These classic RTS games have not been legally available for a long, looooooong time.

However, these two games are trickier because they were published by EA. Battle for Middle-earth II complicates things even further because EA also acquired separate rights to material from Tolkien’s books, allowing it to feature characters, creatures and locations that weren’t depicted in Peter Jackson’s movies. EA’s Tolkien licence eventually expired, which is why the games disappeared from sale.

It’s a similar story for The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the classic PS2-era action game that sucked up dozens and dozens of hours of my time as a kid. It was also published by EA, and while it doesn’t have the extra book-licensing nonsense of Battle for Middle-earth II, a rerelease would still mean dealing with EA for the game itself and Warner/New Line because it was specifically based on Peter Jackson’s films.

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is another one fans have clamoured for. Again, that means dealing with EA for the game itself, while Warner/New Line would also be involved because Conquest heavily uses the movies’ designs and interpretation of Middle-earth. EA itself described the game as being created in partnership with New Line Cinema and the then-Saul Zaentz Company, based on Middle-earth as depicted in the films.

That isn’t to say the EA games are impossible to re-release. EA just been bought and is now essentially owned by Saudi Arabia. As part of the deal, EA has now been saddled with a staggering level of debt and is looking to rake in money, so it may be happy to get some cash from Aspyr. That would just leave the movie-licensing stuff, which might not be hard to get.

Point is, there’s a lot of room for speculation as to what Aspyr is planning. All we can say for sure is that they are planning something Lord of the Rings shaped.