Amazon Games Studio might have scrapped its The Lord of the Rings MMO amid a strategy shift and significant layoffs.
The Lord of the Rings MMO was announced back in May 2023 with the press release describing it as “an open-world MMO adventure in a persistent world set in Middle-earth, featuring the beloved stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy.”
Amazon Games VP Christopher Hartmann said at the time, “Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world. We’re also pleased to be expanding our relationship with Embracer Group following our Tomb Raider deal last year, as they’ve proven to be excellent collaborators.”
However, the game might have been scrapped amid 14,000 layoffs and a change in Amazon Games’ strategy. Senior Gameplay Engineer and Tech Lead Ashleigh Amrine revealed she was laid off and implied the game was getting scrapped in a post to LinkedIn. She wrote, “his 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). 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.”
However, she has since edited the post and removed the aside that stated, “y’all would have loved it.”
Amazon’s VP of Audio, Twitch, and Games Steve Boom did reveal in an email obtained to Variety that the company was changing its strategy when it comes to MMOs. He shared, “Over the last several months, we’ve been evaluating our go-forward plans, specifically through the lens of our mission to deliver the very best gaming experiences to customers while leaning into the things that Amazon does best.”
“We’ve also taken a critical look at the evolving dynamics of games industry and competitive landscape. While we’re proud of our successes in first-party AAA game development and publishing, we have made the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work – specifically around MMOs – within Amazon Game Studios, including making significant role reductions in our studios in Irvine and San Diego, as well as our central publishing team,” he added.
However, he did note the company was “continuing to work with our external studio partners Crystal Dynamics on an upcoming ‘Tomb Raider’ title and Maverick Games on an upcoming open world driving game.”
It is unclear at this point what the status of The Lord of the Rings game is.
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While I'd be up for a newe decent Middle-Earth MMO, I rather doubt I would enjoy one produced under the same company that produced that ghastly Rings show. (Besides, the old LotRO is still running, as far as I know.)
With how badly AMAZON has screwed up LKOTR it may be for the best if this game has been cancelled.