Amazon games has reportedly cancelled a large-scale “Lord of the Rings” massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO)โค in development, resulting in layoffs. The news surfaced via a LinkedIn post from a former Amazonโ Games โขemployee who confirmed their position was eliminated alongside โขcolleagues working on the project.
The cancellation marks theโข latest setback for Amazon Games‘ ambitions in the MMO space, following a recent announcement that the company is shifting away from MMO โฃdevelopment and ending support for “New World.” The “Lord of โthe Rings” game, announced โขin 2023 as part of a collaboration with Embracer Group-which holds the rights toโฃ Tolkien’s works-was intended to be a “massive open-world MMO adventure” spanning the events โคfrom “The Hobbit” through “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. This follows previousโ unsuccessful “Lord of theโ Rings” game attempts, including poorly received titles like “Tales of the Shire” and the quickly abandonedโข “Return to Moria.”
Amazon’s broader restructuring plan includes at least 14,000 job cuts, with a notable impact on โAmazonโฃ Games Orange County, the studioโ behind both “new World” and the cancelled MMO. The former employee stated, “This morningโ I became part of the layoffs at amazon Games, โalong with incredibly talented colleagues on the ‘New World’ project and our ‘The Lordโ of the Rings’ game (you would have loved it).”