Amazon axes Lord of the Rings MMO again
Amazon has canceled its Lord of the Rings massively multiplayer online game for a second time as part of sweeping layoffs that affected more than 14,000 employees. The decision also ends further development of New World: Aeternum. A former senior gameplay engineer at Amazon Game Studios, Ashleigh Amrine, confirmed on LinkedIn that the unreleased Lord of the Rings project was among the casualties.
Amrine described the game as “fledgling” and praised her former colleagues as exceptionally skilled and creative. Amazon has not issued an official statement about the cancellation, but Steve Boom, the company’s head of audio, Twitch, and games, described the studio cuts as “significant” and stated that Amazon is halting first-party development of MMOs.
The Lord of the Rings MMO had been revived in 2023 after an earlier cancellation tied to a contract dispute with Tencent. At the time, Amazon stated that it would develop the game using an enhanced version of the engine behind New World. Studio head Christoph Hartmann noted last year that the project was still in early development, which likely made it easier for the company to discontinue without incurring major financial loss.
