There's once again hope for all those gamers who were disappointed to learn of the cancellation of The Lord of the Rings MMO in production at Amazon Games.
As you might recall, Leyou had originally grabbed the deal and subsequently selected Amazon Games to develop the title. However, following Tencent's acquisition of Leyou, Tencent and Amazon couldn't reach an agreement to keep working on the project.
Today's surprising news reveals that Amazon has successfully struck a deal with the new owner of the rights, the Embracer Group, and The Lord of the Rings MMO is once again in production at Amazon Games to be released on PC and consoles.
According to the press release, the game is currently in the early stage of production at the Orange County office, which previously released the MMORPG New World. Not much was shared about the game's specifics, other than it being an open world MMO adventure set in a persistent Middle-earth featuring the beloved stories narrated by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Christoph Hartmann, VP at Amazon Games, stated:
We’re committed to bringing players high-quality games, whether through original IPs or long-beloved ones like The Lord of the Rings. Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world. We’re also pleased to be expanding our relationship with Embracer Group following our Tomb Raider deal last year, as they’ve proven to be excellent collaborators.
Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode, added:
The world of Middle-earth continues to prove an endlessly fertile ground for creators, and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience. We have the clear ambition to create the highest-quality entertainment products for this IP, whether we utilize internal resources or team up with the best industry partners that complement our capabilities. 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.
The press release mentioned that Amazon is also working on the Rings of Power live action TV series adaptation, although the text highlights that it is unrelated to the upcoming The Lord of the Rings MMO. Given what little we've just learned, it seems likely that this will be a slow retelling of the main story, perhaps not too dissimilar in that regard from the current MMORPG operated by Standing Stone Games.
As for Amazon, it is yet another step in the MMO business, where it is also publishing Lost Ark, Blue Protocol, Throne and Liberty, and other smaller upcoming games. Amazon Games also has a deal to publish the next Tomb Raider game by Crystal Dynamics.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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