In 2019, Amazon announced that it would work on one The Lord of the Rings MMO alongside Leyou Technologies, which was a studio owned by Tencent. Well, after almost two years since it was announced and virtually no information about the project arrived, Amazon has canceled the project completely.
According to a new Bloomberg report, Amazon Game Studios has already officially scrapped its lord of the Rings game. The title was initially scheduled to be released on both PC and consoles and would also be free to play. However, backstage problems prevented the game from advancing to the point where it has now fulfilled its demise. Amazon confirmed in a later statement that the title is no longer in the works at this time. “We love the lord of the Rings IP, and we are disappointed that we will not offer this game to customers, ”it read.
It seems that the reason for the cancellation comes with the participation of Tencent in the project. The Chinese mega-conglomerate acquired Leyou Technologies for $ 1.5 billion by the end of 2020, meaning the company was related to this. The Lord of the Rings game. However, this led to contractual negotiations between Amazon and Tencent, which is where things started to fall apart. For one reason or another, a dispute transpired between the two sides that caused the game to close as a whole.
As for what they were working on The Lord of the Rings Amazon’s project will be done now, it is said to move on to other games that are in development at the company. The most prominent project Amazon is currently in the process of is another MMO called New World. The game has been in operation for quite some time and is finally about to be released later in 2021.
When it comes to The Lord of the Rings in the gaming space, there are other upcoming titles set in the Middle-earth world that we look forward to. Perhaps most notable is The Lord of the Rings: Gollum which is a story-based experience that follows the titular character. It will be released on an undetermined date in 2022.
So what do you think of this whole situation? You wanted that lord of the Rings MMO? Let me know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter at @ MooreMan12.