Amazon Games is partnering with Embracer Group and Middle-earth Enterprises to create a new Lord of the Rings MMO. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Amazon Games previously had a deal to make a Lord of the Rings MMO with Leyou, but it fell apart due to a contract issue. Amazon Games is now trying again and will develop the game internally this time.
Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings MMO will enter a market that already has a popular and established Lord of the Rings MMO. Standing Stone’s Lord of the Rings Online is still out there and getting new updates. It doesn’t appear the game has plans to slow down, and in fact, there are reports that a console edition of The Lord of the Rings Online is in the works.
Amazon’s game will be an “open-world MMO adventure” set in a persistent world in Middle-earth. It will be based specifically on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy, not the films or other adaptations that have come to fruition over the years. It’s also not connected to or associated with Amazon’s The Rings of Power TV series.