Amazon making new Lord of the Rings MMO video game

In 2019, Amazon Games Studio announced that it was working with Chinese company Tencent on an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. That project ended up dying, reportedly because of a dispute related to contract negotiations.

But now Amazon is back at it. IGN reports that they’ve partnered with Embracer Group’s Middle-earth Enterprises to create another MMO based on The Lord of the Rings, this one on its way to PC and consoles…eventually. It’s still early days.

“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,” said Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games.

"This is a completely new game because the license is much, much wider,” Hartmann continued. “Obviously, there’s nothing changing because we all know the world is set, the characters are set. It’s really the freedom we have in terms of gameplay features where now anything is possible, and the limitation is where it’s technically possible or not.Before, it was like, ‘it’s a good idea but we can’t do it because there’s something else going on.’ Now, the mission we are on, and the mission Embracer fully supports, Middle-earth Enterprises fully supports, is to make the biggest, best MMO out there based on Lord of the Rings. That’s our ambition."

Will Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings video game cross over with The Rings of Power?

Lee Guinchard, the CEO of Middle-earth Enterprises’ operative group Freemode, also weighed in with some vague blather: “We’re taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world,” he said.

As for what the game will actually be about, IGN says that it will “feature the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings book trilogy,” which is pretty broad. Will users be able to take on the roles of Bilbo or Gandalf or whoever and play out the events of those stories? Will they play as someone else who gets caught up in them? Hard to say.

I’m a little surprised that Amazon isn’t setting this game during the Second Age of Middle-earth, which is the setting for their Lord of the Rings TV series The Rings of Power. That could have made for some cross-company synergy. But the rights to The Lord of the Rings are complicated. And hey, maybe the Second Age is in there somehow; again, we don’t have many details yet. It goes without saying that there’s no release date.

As for The Rings of Power, filming on the second season should just about be wrapping up. Expect new episodes to air in 2024.

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