We are able to safely say that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings MMO is useless, though the mega corp has insisted it’s nonetheless working on a new Center-earth online game.
Affirmation comes from Eurogamer, which reported on the cancelation of the sport as half of an investigation into Amazon’s push towards generative AI and subsequent widespread layoffs throughout its growth groups.
Amazon Video games boss Jeff Grattis, informed Eurogamer: “Our artistic staff continues to discover a compelling new sport expertise that does justice to Tolkien’s world; we’re working intently with Center-earth and stay enthusiastic about the IP.”
The Lord of the Rings MMO was thought useless again in October, when Amazon confirmed it was strolling away from making new content material for its MMO, New World, amid large layoffs affecting 14,000 roles at the firm. In response to a report by Bloomberg, these layoffs included “vital” cuts to Amazon’s online game operation, which diminished growth work primarily in its Irvine and San Diego places of work.
Bloomberg stated Amazon was reducing again particularly on MMOs, sparking concern for The Lord of the Rings MMO. At the time, a former Amazon Video games developer hit by the cuts instructed The Lord of the Rings MMO was useless.
“This morning I used to be half of the layoffs at Amazon Video games, alongside my extremely gifted friends on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings sport (y’all would have cherished it),” the developer stated in a now-deleted put up on LinkedIn.
“It’s at all times powerful to see such a robust staff undergo one thing like this — I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the most expert, artistic, and type builders I’ve ever met right here.”
Although The Lord of the Rings MMO was introduced in 2023, in August final yr, then Amazon Video games boss Christoph Hartmann informed IGN it was nonetheless early days. “We’re nonetheless looking for the hook, discover that concept of what it’s as a result of we do not simply need to go and do the identical factor over,” Hartmann stated at the time.
“Whereas it is tempting typically with an present IP, that is not the level of doing it. You have to discover a recent twist, and we’re nonetheless, I feel, in that interval the place we actually need to discover out what might be the hook, what might be the factor which is totally different to all the different video games on the market. So it is a little bit early.”
In 2023, Lord of the Rings rights proprietor Embracer stated it wanted to be “exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very vital trend” by turning it into “one of the largest gaming franchises in the world.” Embracer purchased the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in August 2022 and introduced plans to discover alternatives to create new video games, motion pictures, and extra primarily based on the well-known mental property quickly after.
It’s price digging into Amazon’s assertion a little deeper right here. Point out of “a compelling new sport expertise that does justice to Tolkien’s world” suggests a new The Lord of the Rings sport is in the works. However what might it’s? Maybe it’s the rumored The Lord of the Rings RPG from Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse, which, it’s price declaring, is owned by Embracer.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has canceled a Lord of the Rings MMO. In 2021, it halted a Lord of the Rings MMORPG that was first introduced in 2019 amid a contract dispute with Tencent.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.