The video game division of Amazon.com Inc. has canceled an online role-playing game based on the fantastic Lord of the Rings series, which was announced in 2019, in another setback for the tech giant.
The game had been developed at Amazon Game Studios alongside Chinese company Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd., which was bought by a conglomerate. Tencent Holdings Ltd. in December. The resulting contractual negotiations sparked a dispute between Amazon and Tencent that eventually led to the cancellation of the game, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked that they not identify themselves because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the game. theme.
An Amazon spokesman confirmed that, following Tencent’s acquisition of Leyou, “at this time we have not been able to secure the terms to proceed with this title.”
The Amazon team working on the game will move on to other projects. “We love the intellectual property of Lord of the Rings and we are disappointed that we will not offer this game to customers,” the Seattle-based company spokesman said in a statement.
Read more: Amazon’s Stumbles With Video Gaming
The cancellation follows a series of bad news for Amazon Game Studios, which has not been able to launch a successful video game since it was launched in 2014. The company has canceled previously announced games Breakaway and Crucible. Another of his games, New World, has been repeatedly delayed.
Amazon owns the popular streaming service, Twitch, but its video game division has had no problems for years due to mismanagement and cultural clashes between game developers and company principles, Bloomberg reported earlier of this year.