New World Enters Maintenance Mode as Amazon Cuts 14,000 Jobs — but What's Happening With Its Lord of the Rings MMO?

Amazon is walking distant from making caller contented from its MMO, New World, amid immense layoffs affecting 14,000 roles astatine the company. Now, determination is interest implicit the presumption of its The Lord of the Rings MMO.

Yesterday, October 28, Amazon confirmed cuts affecting an eye-watering 14,000 roles. It’s 1 of the biggest circular of layoffs the tech elephantine has ever seen, and comes astatine a clip erstwhile different companies successful the tech sector, specified arsenic Microsoft and Meta, person made likewise immense cuts.

It besides comes astatine a clip erstwhile Amazon is performing well. So wherefore are they happening? AI, basically. In a enactment to employees, Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology astatine Amazon, said:

Some whitethorn inquire wherefore we’re reducing roles erstwhile the institution is performing well. Across our businesses, we're delivering large lawsuit experiences each day, innovating astatine a accelerated rate, and producing beardown concern results. What we request to retrieve is that the satellite is changing quickly. This procreation of AI is the astir transformative exertion we’ve seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate overmuch faster than ever earlier (in existing marketplace segments and altogether caller ones). We’re convinced that we request to beryllium organized much leanly, with less layers and much ownership, to determination arsenic rapidly arsenic imaginable for our customers and business.

What does this each mean for Amazon’s gaming business? According to a study by Bloomberg, thing good. There are “significant” cuts coming to Amazon’s video crippled operation, which volition trim improvement enactment and layoff unit chiefly successful its Irvine and San Diego offices.

The New World changes are a portion of that, and portion the crippled volition stay online during 2026, this is fundamentally the opening of the extremity for erstwhile hugely fashionable MMO. Let’s remember, New World was a uncommon deed for Amazon successful the video crippled space, and followed aggregate flops that resulted successful crippled and workplace closures. The MMO acceptable successful an alternate 1600s America saw immense subordinate numbers connected Steam, with a whopping 913,634 highest concurrents connected Valve's level backmost successful 2021. Player numbers person importantly declined since that peak, however.

Bloomberg said Amazon is cutting backmost particularly connected MMOs, but volition proceed to make Amazon Games Montreal’s strategy March of Giants, its caller Tomb Raider crippled successful the works astatine Crystal Dynamics, and "casual and AI-focused games" for its unreality gaming work Luna. UK workplace Maverick Games volition proceed to enactment connected its racing game, too. Amazon Games besides continues to people externally developed games specified arsenic Lost Ark and Throne & Liberty successful occidental markets.

Amazon is besides moving connected an in-house The Lord of the Rings MMO, though we haven’t heard overmuch astir it since it was announced successful 2023. In August past year, Amazon Games brag Christoph Hartmann told IGN the institution had 10 games successful improvement and was negotiating "a mates more." These see Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings MMO, arsenic good arsenic the caller driving crippled from the erstwhile developers down Forza Horizon.

On The Lord of the Rings MMO, however, Hartmann insisted it was inactive aboriginal days. "We're inactive trying to find the hook, find that thought of what it is due to the fact that we don't conscionable privation to spell and bash the aforesaid happening over," Hartmann said astatine the time.

"While it's tempting sometimes with an existing IP, that's not the constituent of doing it. You've got to find a caller twist, and we're still, I think, successful that play wherever we truly privation to find retired what could beryllium the hook, what could beryllium the happening which is antithetic to each the different games retired there. So it's a small spot early.”

IGN has asked Amazon for an update connected The Lord of the Rings MMO.

There are besides plentifulness of questions astir Tomb Raider, which has been caught up successful the mire astir the Embracer Group. Hartmann mostly waved disconnected those concerns, saying that developer Crystal Dynamics is "fairly sheltered from everything going connected with Embracer."

"People evidently look astatine what the genitor institution is doing, but it ne'er impacted connected resources, ne'er led to immoderate changes connected absorption for them, truthful they're fine. I mean, doing a caller Tomb Raider, the barroom is truthful high. The longer you go, the anticipation goes higher, truthful it's a huge, immense task, but things are progressing. I mean, there's immoderate truly large ideas here," Hartmann said.

"Obviously, we're not going to stock immoderate with you adjacent if we would emotion to, but things are going well, things are moving forward. And from what I could tell, Crystal was beauteous sheltered, due to the fact that besides erstwhile you look before...they went done a mates of ownership changes anyhow before, it's not marque caller for them."

Crystal Dynamics precocious laid disconnected a fig of workers pursuing Microsoft’s cancelation of the Perfect Dark reboot. At the time, the workplace insisted Tomb Raider was inactive successful improvement and unaffected by the decision.

Crystal Dynamics was primitively brought successful to revitalize Perfect Dark aft struggles getting the task moving with erstwhile co-developer, Certain Affinity. Crystal was aboriginal acquired by the Embracer Group successful 2022, astatine which clip the workplace was revealed to person 273 employees crossed its Austin, Bellevue, and San Mateo offices. Crystal laid disconnected 10 radical successful 2023, and laid disconnected 17 much radical earlier this year. It's unclear however galore stay now.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].