{"id":1934554,"date":"2026-05-14T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T06:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1934554"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T06:55:00","slug":"amazon-has-cancelled-the-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-but-promises-it-continues-to-explore-a-compelling-new-game-experience-set-in-middle-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1934554","title":{"rendered":"Amazon has cancelled The Lord of the Rings MMO, but promises it &#8220;continues to explore a compelling new game experience&#8221; set in Middle-earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Amazon has cancelled The Lord of the Rings MMO, but promises it &#8220;continues to explore a compelling new game experience&#8221; set in Middle-earth<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">There and back again.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/lord-of-the-rings-logo.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Lord of the Rings logo from the Lord of the Rings MMO announcement by Amazon Game Studios and Embracer Group.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"lord-of-the-rings-logo.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Amazon Game Studios \/ Embracer Group<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/connor-makar\">Connor Makar<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Staff Writer<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-14T09:55:00+00:00\">May 14, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-cancelled-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-new-game-experience?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          1 comment<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"482e2f8a-9a1e-4740-8592-581d17168aba\" data-name=\"New World\" data-follow-text=\"Follow New World\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following New World\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow New World\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following New World\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow New World\" title=\"Follow New World\"><br \/>\n  Follow New World<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Amazon&#8217;s head of games Jeff Grattis has told Eurogamer that the company is continuing to work on a Lord of the Rings &#8220;game experience&#8221;, after the now all-but confirmed cancellation of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-announces-fresh-stab-at-turning-the-lord-of-the-rings-into-an-mmo\">previously announced<\/a> Lord of the Rings MMO.<\/p>\n<p>His statement comes in response to a request for comment from Eurogamer, made after learning more about the Lord of the Rings MMO&#8217;s cancellation from sources familiar with the studio. This was part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-ai-game-project-trident-laid-off-anyway-report\">a larger investigation into a company-wide push to use generative AI<\/a>, and the cancellation of a gen-AI game Project Trident.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"New World - Official Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oqL6XP4dco4?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oqL6XP4dco4\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">New World &#8211; Official Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a gameplay trailer for New World, the Amazon MMO which will be shutting down next year.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oqL6XP4dco4\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Grattis&#8217; statement in full reads as follows:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien&#8217;s world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Amazon has been silent about this Lord of the Rings MMO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-reportedly-gutting-its-video-game-division-as-part-of-14000-company-wide-job-cuts\">ever since last October&#8217;s layoffs<\/a>. The game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-announces-fresh-stab-at-turning-the-lord-of-the-rings-into-an-mmo\">first announced in May 2023<\/a> as a partnership between Amazon and Embracer Group&#8217;s Middle Earth Enterprises, had been in very early development since its announcement, and moved to pre-production mere months before the 2025 layoffs, according to a source speaking to Eurogamer. This source has been granted anonymity to protect their career.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The MMO had been presumed cancelled for various reasons already. Not only had Amazon kept quiet about the game, its vice president of games, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/twitch\">Twitch<\/a>, and audio Steven Bloom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-amazon-dev-suggests-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-cancelled-following-recent-studio-gutting\">reportedly wrote in an internal memo<\/a> these layoffs came alongside a company decision to halt a &#8220;significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work \u2013 specifically around MMOs&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Additional evidence pointing to its cancellation include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-amazon-dev-suggests-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-cancelled-following-recent-studio-gutting\">a former developer briefly referencing the project in a farewell post<\/a>, in which they reveal they&#8217;d been laid off alongside their peers on the Lord of the Rings game, and that people &#8220;would have loved it&#8221;. On top of this, all mention of the Lord of the Rings game appears to have been removed from Amazon Game Studios&#8217; website, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20251016062406\/https:\/\/www.amazongamestudios.com\/en-us\/games\">with the Internet Archive showing its presence on the 16th October 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A source speaking to Eurogamer claimed that, in the months prior to Amazon&#8217;s decision to end New World&#8217;s active development, a decision announced to that team a few weeks before the October 2025 layoffs, &#8220;over 1,000&#8221; developers had begun transitioning onto the Lord of the Rings team. Amazon was, they claim, in the process of &#8220;ramping everybody off New World&#8221; and onto the Lord of the Rings MMO when the company-wide layoffs then happened.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When they got the license [Amazon] immediately announced it was making it before talking to any developers,&#8221; the source said. Adding that &#8220;for many years&#8221; it had only &#8220;one or two people working on it as a side project.&#8221; According to the source, only &#8220;a single concept art&#8221; was created every few months, describing it as &#8220;standard concept art that didn&#8217;t warrant the time.&#8221; This source claims the period when developers were being transitioned onto the Lord of the Rings team was &#8220;when it was actually going into pre-production.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>According to the source, the only MMO developers left employed at Amazon Game Studios are those keeping games like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/lost-ark\">Lost Ark<\/a>, Throne and Liberty, and New World up and running until they are fully sunset. For New World, we know that date to be the 31st January, 2027.<\/p>\n<p>This all could tie in to recent rumour circulating around new Lord of the Rings games. Reportedly Warhorse Studios &#8211; creator of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-developer-warhorse-studios-reportedly-working-on-lord-of-the-rings-game\">is developing an open world game in the Lord of the Rings universe<\/a>. Warhorse, a company owned by Plaion which itself is owned by Embracer Group, would have access to the IP through the aforementioned Middle Earth Enterprises.<\/p>\n<p>Reports also claim <a href=\"https:\/\/insider-gaming.com\/veteran-studio-working-new-lord-of-the-rings-game\/\">Crystal Dynamics is working on its own Lord of the Rings game<\/a>, the same studio working with Amazon in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/in-2026-lara-croft-seems-to-be-returning-to-what-made-90s-tomb-raider-great-and-as-a-lifelong-fan-i-couldnt-be-more-excited\">a pair of upcoming Tomb Raider games<\/a>. Whether this is the new game experience Amazon is working on, or it&#8217;s something else entirely, remains a mystery. Notably, Grattis&#8217; above statement doesn&#8217;t definitively rule out Amazon eventually resurrecting MMO plans some day down the line.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to read more about the goings on at Amazon Game Studios during the cancellation of the Lord of the Rings MMO, you can read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-ai-game-project-trident-laid-off-anyway-report\">Eurogamer&#8217;s report on Amazon&#8217;s company-wide push to use A, and the story of its curious, LLM-powered game, Project Trident<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Amazon&#8217;s head of games Jeff Grattis has told Eurogamer that the company is continuing to work on a Lord of the Rings &#8220;game experience&#8221;, after the now all-but confirmed cancellation of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-announces-fresh-stab-at-turning-the-lord-of-the-rings-into-an-mmo\">previously announced<\/a> Lord of the Rings MMO.<\/p>\n<p>His statement comes in response to a request for comment from Eurogamer, made after learning more about the Lord of the Rings MMO&#8217;s cancellation from sources familiar with the studio. This was part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-ai-game-project-trident-laid-off-anyway-report\">a larger investigation into a company-wide push to use generative AI<\/a>, and the cancellation of a gen-AI game Project Trident.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"New World - Official Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oqL6XP4dco4?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oqL6XP4dco4\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">New World &#8211; Official Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a gameplay trailer for New World, the Amazon MMO which will be shutting down next year.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oqL6XP4dco4\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Grattis&#8217; statement in full reads as follows:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien&#8217;s world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Amazon has been silent about this Lord of the Rings MMO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-reportedly-gutting-its-video-game-division-as-part-of-14000-company-wide-job-cuts\">ever since last October&#8217;s layoffs<\/a>. The game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-announces-fresh-stab-at-turning-the-lord-of-the-rings-into-an-mmo\">first announced in May 2023<\/a> as a partnership between Amazon and Embracer Group&#8217;s Middle Earth Enterprises, had been in very early development since its announcement, and moved to pre-production mere months before the 2025 layoffs, according to a source speaking to Eurogamer. This source has been granted anonymity to protect their career.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The MMO had been presumed cancelled for various reasons already. Not only had Amazon kept quiet about the game, its vice president of games, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/companies\/twitch\">Twitch<\/a>, and audio Steven Bloom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-amazon-dev-suggests-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-cancelled-following-recent-studio-gutting\">reportedly wrote in an internal memo<\/a> these layoffs came alongside a company decision to halt a &#8220;significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work \u2013 specifically around MMOs&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Additional evidence pointing to its cancellation include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-amazon-dev-suggests-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-cancelled-following-recent-studio-gutting\">a former developer briefly referencing the project in a farewell post<\/a>, in which they reveal they&#8217;d been laid off alongside their peers on the Lord of the Rings game, and that people &#8220;would have loved it&#8221;. On top of this, all mention of the Lord of the Rings game appears to have been removed from Amazon Game Studios&#8217; website, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20251016062406\/https:\/\/www.amazongamestudios.com\/en-us\/games\">with the Internet Archive showing its presence on the 16th October 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A source speaking to Eurogamer claimed that, in the months prior to Amazon&#8217;s decision to end New World&#8217;s active development, a decision announced to that team a few weeks before the October 2025 layoffs, &#8220;over 1,000&#8221; developers had begun transitioning onto the Lord of the Rings team. Amazon was, they claim, in the process of &#8220;ramping everybody off New World&#8221; and onto the Lord of the Rings MMO when the company-wide layoffs then happened.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When they got the license [Amazon] immediately announced it was making it before talking to any developers,&#8221; the source said. Adding that &#8220;for many years&#8221; it had only &#8220;one or two people working on it as a side project.&#8221; According to the source, only &#8220;a single concept art&#8221; was created every few months, describing it as &#8220;standard concept art that didn&#8217;t warrant the time.&#8221; This source claims the period when developers were being transitioned onto the Lord of the Rings team was &#8220;when it was actually going into pre-production.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>According to the source, the only MMO developers left employed at Amazon Game Studios are those keeping games like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/lost-ark\">Lost Ark<\/a>, Throne and Liberty, and New World up and running until they are fully sunset. For New World, we know that date to be the 31st January, 2027.<\/p>\n<p>This all could tie in to recent rumour circulating around new Lord of the Rings games. Reportedly Warhorse Studios &#8211; creator of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-developer-warhorse-studios-reportedly-working-on-lord-of-the-rings-game\">is developing an open world game in the Lord of the Rings universe<\/a>. Warhorse, a company owned by Plaion which itself is owned by Embracer Group, would have access to the IP through the aforementioned Middle Earth Enterprises.<\/p>\n<p>Reports also claim <a href=\"https:\/\/insider-gaming.com\/veteran-studio-working-new-lord-of-the-rings-game\/\">Crystal Dynamics is working on its own Lord of the Rings game<\/a>, the same studio working with Amazon in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/in-2026-lara-croft-seems-to-be-returning-to-what-made-90s-tomb-raider-great-and-as-a-lifelong-fan-i-couldnt-be-more-excited\">a pair of upcoming Tomb Raider games<\/a>. Whether this is the new game experience Amazon is working on, or it&#8217;s something else entirely, remains a mystery. Notably, Grattis&#8217; above statement doesn&#8217;t definitively rule out Amazon eventually resurrecting MMO plans some day down the line.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to read more about the goings on at Amazon Game Studios during the cancellation of the Lord of the Rings MMO, you can read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/amazon-ai-game-project-trident-laid-off-anyway-report\">Eurogamer&#8217;s report on Amazon&#8217;s company-wide push to use A, and the story of its curious, LLM-powered game, Project Trident<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Amazon has cancelled The Lord of the Rings MMO, but promises it &#8220;continues to explore a compelling new game experience&#8221; set in Middle-earth There and back again. Image credit: Amazon Game Studios \/ Embracer Group News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on May 14, 2026 1 comment Follow New World Amazon&#8217;s head [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1934554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1934554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1934554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1934554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1934554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}