After the recent wave of layoffs and cuts at Amazon fueled by AI investment, it hasn’t been clear exactly what the impact would be on the company’s various projects. Apparently, even some of the biggest IPs in Amazon’s library are not immune, with a The Lord of the Rings game in development getting an upsetting update.
As reported by RockPaperShotgun, The Lord of the Rings massive multiplayer online (MMO) game has officially been canceled, according to an employee working on the project that was recently let go. This is the second major Lord of the Rings MMO that has been canceled from Amazon before ever seeing the light of day.
Amazon Cancels New The Lord Of The Rings MMO
The Project Spanned The Events Of The Hobbit & Lord Of The Rings
Amazon cuts have affected various arms of the company and will have sweeping implications for any projects currently in development. Unfortunately for The Lord of the Rings fans, this is now the second major LOTR MMO that has been canceled prematurely, the first being axed due to disputes over contract negotiations.
Sadly, in a LinkedIn post that has since been taken down, an Amazon employee working on the project stated that, “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.” She claims that players “would have loved it” and the team behind the project was “skilled, creative, and kind.”
The game was reportedly meant to span the events of The Hobbit and the core Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and would be a “persistent open-world MMO adventure.” This update will surely be upsetting, though not entirely unpredictable, to anyone who was hopeful for an open-world MMO-style Lord of the Rings game.
The Lord Of The Rings MMOs May Be Cursed
It Doesn’t Look Like A LOTR MMO Is Going To Happen Anytime Soon
While a Lord of the Rings MMO certainly would draw a huge audience and could possibly have been Amazon Games’ first major hit, the conglomerate seems to think that it isn’t the right direction for a Lord of the Rings video game, divesting away from MMO projects all around.
It’s an unfortunate development for The Lord of the Rings fans, and there’s no telling when or if another video game or MMO will happen with the IP. For now, the future of The Lord of the Rings games doesn’t look very promising, at least for projects coming from Amazon Games.
- Created by
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J.R.R. Tolkien
- Cast
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Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt