Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO canceled

Amazon announced that development on their Lord of the Rings MMORPG has been cancelled, Bloomberg reported.

The game was being developed by Amazon Game Studios and Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd., who was recently acquired by Tencent Holdings for $1.5 billion in Dec. 2020. A dispute in the negotiations between the two companies led to the game’s cancellation. 

“We have been unable to secure terms to proceed with this title at this time,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

The Lord of the Rings game being cancelled follows the cancellation of most of Amazon Game Studios’ other titles, including Nova, Intensity, Breakaway and Crucible. Their latest project, New World, was set to release May 2020 and was delayed to Aug. 2021.

The team that was working on the game will be reassigned to other titles but is “disappointed that we won’t be bringing this game to customers,” the spokesperson said.

Amazon is, however, proceeding forward with their Lord of the Rings television series which has already become the most expensive show of all time. Season 1 is set to cost at least $465 million and will take place during the Second Age of Middle-Earth, before the events in The Lord of the Rings novel and films.