Amazon Still Wants to Make a Lord of the Rings Game Despite Canceling the MMO It Was Working On

Amazon says it inactive wants to marque a crippled acceptable successful J. R. R. Tolkien's phantasy beingness contempt canceling a Lord of the Rings MMO it had successful development.

Earlier this twelvemonth it was reported that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings MMO was dead, but with a sliver of anticipation that the institution would inactive yet merchandise immoderate benignant of Lord of the Rings crippled successful the future. Amazon issued a connection astatine the clip saying: “Our originative squad continues to research a compelling caller crippled acquisition that does justness to Tolkien's world; we are moving intimately with Middle-earth and stay excited astir the IP.”

IGN spoke to Jeff Gattis, GM of Amazon Gaming astatine Summer Game Fest past week to find retired more. “Well, nothing's been canceled per se,” Gattis insisted, earlier revealing Amazon is presently evalulating assorted concepts to assistance fig retired what benignant of Lord of the Rings crippled it wants to make.

“It's not the astir satisfying answer, but the existent reply is we're inactive looking astatine a fig of antithetic things,” Gattis said. “I looked astatine a task a mates of weeks agone that I thought was rather compelling that possibly we tin spell guardant with. But evaluating antithetic concepts is trying to fig retired what crippled we privation to make, what's the close 1 for our audience, what's the close 1 for the broader audience. And my anticipation is that we'll get there.”

The usphot is Gattis confirmed to maine that Amazon decidedly stills program to marque a Lord of the Rings game, and that it would beryllium wholly abstracted to the precocious announced Middle-earth unfastened satellite RPG successful improvement astatine Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse.

Amazon is seemingly committed to making video games based connected IP, some that it owns, specified arsenic Tomb Raider, James Bond, and The Lord of the Rings, arsenic good arsenic others extracurricular of its portfolio, similar the precocious released Masters of the Universe: Legends Unite. But don’t number connected immoderate marque caller franchises being created solely for Amazon video games.

“We person not been, to beryllium candid with you, truly focused connected creating caller IP per se, astir characters and the like,” Gattis said. “There are a batch of things that we're investing in, which I telephone much innovative crippled mechanics and things similar that. And determination mightiness beryllium IP that comes retired of that. Like I said, we've got a ton successful improvement close now. We astir conscionable privation this worldly could travel faster truthful that I could person impervious points to archer you alternatively of conscionable saying, ‘Trust me, we've got worldly coming.' But each successful owed time.”

Amazon’s caller past successful AAA crippled improvement has been rocky to accidental the least. Last year's announcement that MMO New World would spell into attraction mode came arsenic portion of a circular of layoffs affecting an eye-watering 14,000 roles. Bloomberg had reported that Amazon was cutting backmost particularly connected MMOs, and that the layoffs included “significant” cuts to Amazon’s video crippled cognition crossed its Irvine and San Diego offices. Earlier this year, erstwhile Amazon Game Studios brag Christoph Hartman near the institution successful what was reported arsenic a continued retreat from the PC and console video-game abstraction successful favour of Amazon's unreality gaming work Luna.

Nonetheless, Gattis insisted that Amazon Game Studios remains progressive successful the AAA market.

“Yeah, precise overmuch committed to it,” helium stated. “But committed to the close AAA for the platform. I deliberation that's portion of the appraisal we've done implicit the past twelvemonth is conscionable trying to recognize what contented makes sense. Tomb Raider makes a ton of sense, we think. There are different things successful the pipeline. Broad entreaty IP fits successful with Prime Video. What we don't privation to needfully bash is AAA things that don't truly person immoderate existent crushed to beryllium successful Amazon.”

Gattis admitted it hasn’t been casual for Amazon to interruption into the AAA space, but hopes a caller attack to what players tin expect to play from Amazon Game Studios volition assistance find its spot successful the market.

“I ever commencement with precise Amazon things,” Gattis said. “Start with your customer, recognize your audience. And I deliberation that's been portion of it for Amazon. I don't deliberation there's been a existent wide knowing of what relation Amazon plays successful the crippled abstraction and who we're going after. I deliberation determination tin beryllium a inclination with a batch of large companies to say, 'Oh, we spot a large market. We privation to beryllium successful it.' And that's not truly the Amazon way. Let's zoom retired and fig out, wherever is determination an accidental that's underserved successful the marketplace and however tin Amazon really bring immoderate unsocial worth here? And if we can't, let's enactment retired of it. And I deliberation it's been that appraisal to springiness maine assurance that we've got it close now, but it's hard.”

“The AAA abstraction successful particular, precise hard to interruption into,” helium continued. “These companies person spent virtually decades and billions and tens of billions of dollars to physique up instal bases and IP and web effects and friends and each the stores. So I deliberation it's going to beryllium precise hard for a marque caller precocious extremity level to emerge.”

The archetypal large trial for this caller attack from Amazon, volition beryllium its revival of Tomb Raider, with Legacy of Atlantis — a reimagining of Lara Croft’s archetypal escapade coming successful February 2027 — followed by a wholly caller game, Tomb Raider: Catalyst and the Sophie Turner-led Prime Video TV show.

Simon Cardy is simply a Senior Editor astatine IGN who tin chiefly beryllium recovered skulking astir unfastened satellite games, indulging successful Korean cinema, oregon despairing astatine the authorities of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him connected Bluesky astatine @cardy.bsky.social.