BREAKING: Amazon has officially canceled its biggest Lord of the Rings video game project — shocking fans who’ve been waiting years for a return to Middle-earth. 💔🎮 The ambitious open-world title was set to explore untold corners of Tolkien’s universe, but insiders say creative clashes and budget cuts brought the journey to an end. Now fans are asking: will the dream of a next-gen LOTR adventure ever rise again

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The road to Middle-earth has ended once again for Amazon Game Studios, following the news that the giant has officially canceled its Lord of the Rings massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), marking the second time in recent years that an ambitious attempt to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s world to life has fallen apart. The news came from former Amazon Games engineer Ashleigh Amrine, who shared on social media:

“This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y’all would have loved it).”

Her post confirmed what many feared after reports of large-scale job cuts began circulating last week — that Amazon’s latest Lord of the Rings project was among the casualties of the company’s newest corporate restructuring. A real pity, given the scale and ambition of the game.

What Was the LOTR MMORPG About?

Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power: Morfydd Clark & Charlie Vickers Interview

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Amazon’s new MMORPG was being developed by Amazon Games in partnership with the Embracer Group, the Swedish holding company that owns the interactive rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Announced in 2023, the game was said to be an entirely new experience — one designed to “find a fresh twist” within Tolkien’s mythology. In 2024, Amazon Games CEO Christoph Hartmann said the team was still experimenting with ideas.

“We’re still trying to find the hook, find that idea of what it is because we don’t just want to go and do the same thing over. While it’s tempting sometimes with an existing IP, that’s not the point of doing it. You’ve got to find a fresh twist… So it’s a little bit early.”

Looks like early actually meant… over. This marks Amazon’s second failed attempt to develop a Lord of the Rings MMO. The company’s first try, announced back in 2019, was being developed by the New World team at Amazon Games Orange County before it was scrapped less than two years later following reported contract complications with Tencent.

The cancellation comes amid another sweeping wave of layoffs across Amazon. According to reports, the company is cutting 14,000 corporate positions, with Amazon Game Studios, Twitch, and Audible all impacted.

In a statement, Steve Boom, head of Amazon’s Audio, Twitch, and Games divisions, framed the decision as part of a broader strategic pivot:

“Over the last several months, we’ve been evaluating our go-forward plans, specifically through the lens of our mission to deliver the very best gaming experiences to customers while leaning into the things that Amazon does best. While we’re proud of our successes in first-party AAA game development and publishing. We have made the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work — specifically around MMOs — within Amazon Game Studios.”

Amazon remains heavily invested in Tolkien’s world on another front — producing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series for Prime Video, which is currently in post-production on its third season.