Recent Amazon Layoffs Gets The Lord Of The Rings MMO Caught In The Crossfire

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a notorious franchise that spans across books, of course, alongside media in television, games, and films. In 2023, the series found a new release in the form of ‘The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria’. Our review scored it a 5/10: “The lore, voice acting, and the characters are probably the only interesting ideas this game brings to the table, as the rest of the gameplay loop of mining, building, crafting, and surviving isn’t anything that propels the genre forward.”

As for future proofing the series, there have been attempts at online experiences for the game. Back in 2019, a Lord of the Rings MMO was announced. But, it found itself to be shuttered by 2021. And although Amazon did bring success in other forms like New World, there has been troubling developments for its gaming effort. Recently, a wave of layoffs dismantled further development on the title and it appears there was others caught in the crossfire as well.

Atop of New World no longer to receive additional support for the core experience, there was also another unannounced title that was swept under the carpet from the mass firing as well. It was revealed by a now-former Amazon employee that Amazon Games was also piecing together a MMO set in The Lord of the Rings universe as well.

“This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y’all would have loved it),” Ashleigh Amrine, senior gameplay engineer wrote in a LinkedIn post. The post has since then been set to hidden, but Rock Paper Shotgun has preserved her initial writing.

Another title that is still in obscurity at Amazon following these layoffs is the efforts for Tomb Raider. It was reported previously that the deal was struct with Embracer Group to propel the series with a new game, film, and TV series. Another report disclosed that the parent company “leased” the IP to Amazon for roughly $600 million as of 2023. You can read the full report by heading here.

Are you surprised that Amazon has fumbled another Lord of the Rings MMO?