We can safely say that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings MMO is dead, although the mega corp has insisted it’s still working on a new Middle-earth video game.
Confirmation comes from Eurogamer, which reported on the cancelation of the game as part of an investigation into Amazon’s push towards generative AI and subsequent widespread layoffs across its development teams.
Amazon Games boss Jeff Grattis, told Eurogamer: “Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien’s world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP.”
The Lord of the Rings MMO was thought dead back in October, when Amazon confirmed it was walking away from making new content for its MMO, New World, amid huge layoffs affecting 14,000 roles at the company. According to a report by Bloomberg, these layoffs included “significant” cuts to Amazon’s video game operation, which reduced development work mainly in its Irvine and San Diego offices.
