Related Articles
Amazon has reportedly canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO game, first announced in 2019, making it just the latest in a growing list of unreleased projects from the tech giant. However, it appears this game’s cancellation came from a contract dispute rather than any issue with creating something that met quality standards. The company was not making the game alone, and its development partner was acquired by another company in the middle of production.
Bloomberg reported on April 17 that issues arose after co-developer Leyou Technologies was purchased by Tencent back in December. Amazon and Tencent could not then come to an agreement to continue developing the game, which was also being co-developed by an internal Amazon team, and this forced it to be canceled. According to a statement Amazon gave to Bloomberg, the internal team will move to other projects. The game was going to be free-to-play, according to the initial announcement, and was planned for both PC and consoles.
You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.
Click To Unmute
ShareSize:640 × 360480 × 270
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00Sorry, but you can’t access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video
JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year20242023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900
By clicking ‘enter’, you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy
Now Playing: New World – Exclusive Developer Breakdown Of The MMO's Progression Systems
Leyou is the same parent company behind Warframe developer Digital Extremes and Gears Tactics studio Splash Damage. It also owns a stake in Certain Affinity, a studio that has worked extensively on support development for the Halo series.
Thus far, Amazon Games has a very rocky track record for actually shipping games. Multiplayer titles like Breakaway and Crucible have been canceled outright, with the latter actually releasing and then being un-released after receiving significant criticism. Two other projects were apparently canceled, as well, and the MMO New World has been delayed repeatedly. It’s now arriving in August, or at least that is the currently scheduled date.
Amazon is still spending a whole lot of money on another Lord of the Rings project, however. The first season of the upcoming calling it “fake news” and seeming to suggest that figure is inflated.
