The Lord of the Rings IP might be cursed. After the New World shake-up, the fantasy franchise’s new game could be headed for the trash. Ashleigh Amrine, former gameplay engineer at Amazon Games, hints the project won’t see daylight.

Even if the latest Tolkien-inspired release has fared well with players, the Lord of the Rings banner feels jinxed in our corner of the industry. Gollum sank Daedalic’s plans, Tales of the Shire barely scrapes 200 daily Steam users, and now bad news strikes again: Amazon Games’ Lord of the Rings MMO has reportedly been canceled.

There’s no formal statement yet from Amazon Games. But this morning Ashleigh Amrine, a former gameplay engineer at the studio and lead on New World Aeternum, shared that she and most of her team are being let go in the tech giant’s latest cuts. In her post, Amrine didn’t spell out a cancellation, yet she noted you “would have loved to see it”, referring to “Lord of the Rings R&D Project (2024–2025)”.

As noted, nothing official has been said, but the signs line up. Amazon Games has shifted strategy to limit investment in massive multiplayer projects. Combine that with significant layoffs across the dev team – part of 14,000 job cuts company-wide – and it points to the project being put on ice.

An Open-World MMO That Promised An Epic Experience For Fans

Announced in 2023 as a collaboration with Embracer, holder of the Middle-earth Enterprises rights, the project was pitched as a persistent, open-world MMO spanning events from The Hobbit through the Lord of the Rings trilogy, promising an epic ride for fans. A potential cancellation underscores strategic shifts at Amazon Games, which is stepping back from MMOs after troubles around New World.

With its Tolkien MMO seemingly gone and New World winding down, Amazon Games faces an uncertain path. The company says it will keep exploring other options and continue publishing externally developed MMOs like Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, but its in-house MMO trajectory may be nearing the end.

Source: 3DJuegos