Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO adaptation has reportedly been cancelled, following significant layoffs at the company and a major restructure within its gaming division.
The news was shared on LinkedIn by a former employee of Amazon Games (via RPS), who posted a farewell referring to this Lord of the Rings MMO in the past tense.
‘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 wrote.
Lord of the Rings MMO reportedly cancelled – quick links
Amazon plans move away from MMOs and AAA games
While the cancellation of the game has not specifically been confirmed, the news wouldn’t be surprising, given Amazon’s post-mortem note on its recent layoffs.
Per a memo from Steve Boom, Vice President of Audio, Twitch, and Games at Amazon, the company has chosen to move away from MMOs and large-scale AAA development.
‘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,’ Boom said in a memo sent to The Verge and other media outlets.
As part of these changes, Amazon’s four-year-old New World MMO also had its development ended, with no new updates in the works. This title will enter maintenance mode and will remain live into 2026 – but its future is no longer guaranteed.
What were Amazon’s plans for a Lord of the Rings MMO?
Should the reports prove accurate, the loss of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO is unfortunate.
The project was announced way back in 2023, as a major collaboration between Amazon and Embracer Group (which has since split into multiple companies). At the time, they described the game as being an MMO that would adapt the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings into an ongoing experience for passionate Tolkien fans.
‘Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honoured and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world,’ Christoph Harmann, Amazon Games’ boss said at the time.
Notably, this project was Amazon’s second attempt at developing a Lord of the Rings MMO, following the cancellation of another, similar project in 2022. This earlier project was reportedly cancelled due to conflict with a publishing partner, Tencent, with an acquisition causing a complex licensing situation that couldn’t be resolved.
It does appear Amazon’s second attempt at a Lord of the Rings MMO has gone the same way, for different reasons.
If it’s any consolation for fans disappointed by these reports, there is a pretty decent Lord of the Rings MMO out there, still online and receiving updates: The Lord of the Rings Online. While this game launched nearly two decades ago, and it’s not necessarily the prettiest world, it still has a supportive player community, and ample plots to wrap you up in Tolkien’s world.
It’s looking mightily like this game will outlast each and every one of its potential competitors, which really is an impressive achievement.
