Amazon has reportedly cancelled its Lord of the Rings MMO – for the second time – as part of a sweeping internal pullback from online game development, as reported by The Verge. The project, which had been in development at Amazon Games Orange County – the studio behind New World – under a multi-year AAA partnership with Embracer Group‘s Middle-earth Enterprises signed in May 2023, is said to have been shelved alongside a significant reduction in Amazon‘s broader MMO ambitions.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has walked away from a Lord of the Rings online game. A free-to-play MMO co-developed with Athlon Games was announced in 2019 and cancelled in 2021 after Tencent‘s $1.5 billion acquisition of parent company Leyou Technologies triggered a contract breakdown. The 2023 revival with Embracer – planned for PC and consoles, with Amazon Games as both developer and global publisher – was pitched as a fresh take on Middle-earth distinct from the existing Lord of the Rings Online. Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann described Lord of the Rings as “one of the most enduring fantasy franchises of all time” at announcement.
The reported cancellation fits a pattern of painful cutbacks across Amazon‘s gaming division. Per The Verge, an internal town hall indicated the company was discontinuing a “substantial” portion of its MMO work – the LOTR project included – while retaining publishing support for Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark. New World has also stopped receiving new content post its Nighthaven update, and World: Eternal will keep servers live only until 2026. This comes against a backdrop of approximately 14,000 roles eliminated across Amazon in late 2023 and into 2024. Amazon’s track record in gaming has drawn scrutiny before, but this latest wave of cancellations and closures marks the sharpest retrenchment yet.
Honestly, watching Amazon cancel a Lord of the Rings MMO twice – with a different studio and a different partner each time – is less surprising than it probably should be. GamesHub called the project a “fever dream” of repeated revivals and shelving, and it’s hard to argue. Amazon‘s expensive ambitions in the live-service space have consistently struggled to convert investment into sustainable games – a problem that’s hardly unique to them, as major studios cancelling ambitious projects has become something of a grim industry rhythm in 2024 and 2025.
Amazon has confirmed to IGN that it is still developing an unannounced Lord of the Rings game – just not an MMO – signalling a format shift for the IP rather than a full exit. Embracer‘s Middle-earth Enterprises continues to license the franchise broadly, so other publishers stepping into the space remains entirely possible. Whether Amazon‘s non-MMO LOTR project ever sees the light of day is, at this point, anyone’s guess.
Does Amazon‘s repeated failure to get a Lord of the Rings MMO off the ground kill your appetite for the IP in online games entirely – or is there a version of this that a different studio could still pull off? Sound off in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking gaming news and Lord of the Rings coverage.
