Those awaiting the next big Lord of the Rings game are in for a disappointment, as Amazon has axed what promised to be a very exciting new adventure in Middle-earth.
The Lord of the Rings has given fans a plethora of fun video games over the years. Whether based on Peter Jackson’s iconic trilogy or tied into the original books, a great Lord of the Rings game lets gamers enjoy the experience of Middle-earth in a variety of eras.
One upcoming project that had fans excited was a reported Amazon Game Studios MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) that was untitled but set to expand on this world. This seemed the perfect concept as MMORPGs are a mainstay for fantasy fans such as Warcraft. So one based on the most iconic fantasy tale ever should be a hit, right?
Sadly, it appears it’s not happening, as former Amazon Games engineer Ashleigh Amrine shared on social media that she was part of a huge round of layoffs at the company that also appears to have ended production on its upcoming Lord of the Rings video game.
"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)," she wrote.
There wasn't much word on the details of the game other than it would allow players to span the events of both The Hobbit and the main Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s part of Amazon doing widespread layoffs, eliminating 14,000 corporate positions. That’s a blow to LOTR fans that adds to the complex history of this game.
Why can’t The Lord of the Rings produce another MMORPG game?
The winding road to a Lord of the Rings MMORPG rivals the quest to take the One Ring into Mordor.
There had been a good entry made in 2007 with The Lord of the Rings Online, which is still running 17 years later and has been given numerous updates. But Amazon has been trying to move in on that space with an even more ambitious project, and it seems to be struggling to pull it off.
Due to how complex a MMORPG can be to set up and maintain, creating one that brings the world of Tolkien to life is a challenge. In 2019, Amazon announced plans for a game by the Orange County team who would later craft the successful 2021 game New World and a partnership with Chinese company Leyou.
In just two years, that title was canceled after Leyou was acquired by Tencent. In 2023, Amazon announced they were returning to the idea with the Embracer Group. In 2024, Amazon Games CEO Christoph Hartmann gave an update to fans.
"We're still trying to find the hook, find that idea of what it is because we don't just want to go and do the same thing over. While it's tempting sometimes with an existing IP, that's not the point of doing it. You've got to find a fresh twist, and we're still, I think, in that period where we really want to find out what could be the hook, what could be the thing that is different from all the other games out there. So it's a little bit early.”
Sadly, any plans are now undone by these massive layoffs. It’s a blow to fans of the property and the games themselves. The last major Lord of the Rings game was 2023’s Gollum, which was slammed by both fans and reviewers as probably the worst LOTR game ever.
The Lord of the Rings Online game is fun in how it allows players to craft a character of a certain class for adventures. Yet it has been showing its age in its updates and a brand new MMORPG utilizing today's advanced technology could have been a hit. Having gamers able to experience the events of the movies would have been the icing on the cake.
There’s a chance the project could live on in some sort of form, yet the outcome doesn’t look good. The gaming industry has been affected over the last few years by corporate attrition with numerous studios shuttered and countless games canceled. So for those hoping for another fantastic MMORPG set in Middle-earth, that quest seems to be over for now.