Amazon's Lord Of The Rings MMO Just Got Some Very Bad News

At one point in time, Amazon was poised to go hard with its Lord of the Rings license, and while that might still be true for the company's upcoming Lord of the Rings TV show for Prime Video, it's no longer the case for its planned MMO set in the Lord of the Rings universe. Amazon has cancelled the game, which is just the latest in a string of setbacks for a gaming division which just can't seem to catch a break.

News of the MMO's cancellation comes from Bloomberg, which first spoke to unnamed sources who detailed the situation. According to those sources, Amazon was working with Chinese studio Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd. on the game, which was purchased by Tencent back in December. Following Tencent's acquisition of Leyou, Amazon and Tencent weren't able to agree to new contract terms, which ultimately led to the game being canned.

In a statement to Bloomberg, an Amazon representative confirmed that the game has indeed been cancelled and those who were working on it have been moved to other projects. It seems, then, that this Lord of the Rings MMO is well and truly dead, making it the latest entry on a growing list of gaming projects that haven't panned out for Amazon Games.

Following the cancellations of Breakaway, Crucible, and now this MMO, all eyes are on New World – another MMO currently in development at Amazon Games. Alpha testing for New World has been promising, but the game has been delayed a number of times. Still, with a closed beta slated for June and release now set for the end of August, New World now appears Amazon's best hope for success in the world of gaming.

Whether or not this Lord of the Rings MMO will be revived in the future is anyone's guess, but right now it seems that we probably shouldn't count on that happening. For the time being at least, New World is the upcoming Amazon Games title to watch.