Amazon have reportedly cancelled their Lord Of The Rings MMO, again

"Y'all would person loved it", says erstwhile developer

Amazon person cancelled their 2nd effort astatine a Lord Of The Rings MMO arsenic portion of caller wide layoffs, according to a now-former elder gameplay technologist astatine Amazon Games.

The technologist successful question is Ashleigh Amrine, who announced that she had mislaid her occupation connected LinkedIn yesterday. "This greeting I was portion of the layoffs astatine Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers connected New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings crippled (y'all would person loved it)," she wrote. I've reached retired to Amazon for comment.

Colonial phantasy New World has already been confirmed to beryllium ceasing development, pursuing the caller Nighthaven update, arsenic portion of a company-wide displacement distant from MMOs. Amazon volition support the servers lukewarm done 2026, and accidental they'll springiness six months announcement earlier making immoderate changes that render the crippled unplayable.

Amazon's archetypal LOTR MMO was a collaboration with Chinese institution Leyou, announced successful 2019. It met an unfortunate extremity successful 2021 acknowledgment to an evident contractual dispute, aft Leyou were acquired by Tencent. Amazon revealed the 2nd LOTR MMO successful 2023, aft partnering with caller Middle-earth rights-owner Embracer. They called it a "persistent open-world MMO adventure", spanning the events of The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, but beyond that, we've ne'er heard overmuch astir the project.

"It's ever pugnacious to spot specified a beardown squad spell done thing similar this," Amrine wrote successful her station yesterday. "I've been fortunate to enactment with immoderate of the astir skilled, creative, and benignant developers I've ever met here."

It's claimed that 14,000 radical are losing their jobs arsenic portion of Amazon's latest cuts. Best of luck to everybody affected. At the hazard of being twee, present is an encouraging speech from the books: "in the extremity the Shadow was lone a tiny and passing thing: determination was airy and precocious quality for ever beyond its reach."

If you're hopeless to roam Middle-earth successful company, Standing Stone and Daybreak's The Lord of the Rings Online is inactive trucking on with a tiny but dependable audience, astir 2 decades since launch. The community's caller doings see yet accomplishing a pilgrimage of desperately underlevelled hobbits to Mount Doom.