It seems Amazon’s highly anticipated Lord of the Rings MMO has been shelved indefinitely. This decision comes amidst significant layoffs impacting the company’s entire gaming division.
Earlier this week, Amazon announced it would no longer produce new content for its MMO, New World. This was part of a broader restructuring that saw approximately 14,000 roles eliminated across the company. Reports indicate that Amazon’s video game operations, particularly its MMO development teams in Irvine and San Diego, were hit hard by these significant staff reductions.
Naturally, these developments raised questions about the fate of the Lord of the Rings MMO. Now, confirmation has emerged from a former Amazon Games developer, who was among those affected by the layoffs, that the game has indeed been canceled.
In a now-deleted LinkedIn post, the developer shared, "This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y’all would have loved it)."
They continued, expressing the difficulty of the situation: "It’s always tough to see such a strong team go through something like this — I’ve been lucky to work with some of the most skilled, creative, and kind developers I’ve ever met here."
The bittersweet remark "y’all would have loved it" strongly implies the Lord of the Rings MMO project has been terminated. Neither Amazon nor Embracer, the rights holder for Lord of the Rings, have publicly commented on the cancellation.
While the Lord of the Rings MMO was initially announced in 2023, Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann indicated it was still in its very early stages as of last August. Hartmann previously stated, "We’re still trying to find the hook, find that idea of what it is because we don’t just want to go and do the same thing over."
He emphasized the importance of innovation, adding, "While it’s tempting sometimes with an existing IP, that’s not the point of doing it. You’ve got to find a fresh twist, and we’re still, I think, in that period where we really want to find out what could be the hook, what could be the thing which is different to all the other games out there. So it’s a little bit early.”
The Embracer Group, which acquired the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in August 2022, had previously expressed its ambition to "exploit Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion" and transform it into “one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world.” They had announced plans to develop new games, movies, and other media based on the iconic intellectual property.
Notably, this isn’t Amazon’s first attempt—or cancellation—of a Lord of the Rings MMO. Back in 2021, a different Lord of the Rings MMORPG, initially revealed in 2019, was also halted due to a contract dispute with Tencent.
This article was reported by a news team focused on gaming industry developments.