Amazon Quietly Shelves Its Lord of the Rings MMO After Layoffs
After years of reboots and delays, Amazon’s Middle-earth adventure ends again, a signal of how studios are retreating from big-budget MMOs.
Amazon’s long-anticipated Lord of the Rings massively multiplayer online (MMO) appears to have sailed into the Undying Lands permanently. Reports suggest the company has officially canceled the project as part of a broader move to scale back its work on MMOs following significant layoffs at Amazon Games this week.
The news first surfaced on LinkedIn, where a former senior gameplay engineer at Amazon Games confirmed they were part of the layoffs alongside colleagues from New World and what they described as the studio’s “fledgling Lord of the Rings game.” Their post (now hidden or deleted) hinted at the project’s promise, adding, “y’all would have loved it.”
While Amazon and Embracer Group (the game’s co-developer) haven’t issued official statements, the timing aligns with Amazon’s internal restructuring. Earlier this week, a company executive announced plans to halt a “significant” amount of work on MMOs, signaling a strategic shift away from large-scale online projects.
As of this writing, the Lord of the Rings MMO is still listed on Amazon Games’ official website, but all signs suggest the project has quietly been shelved.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
This isn’t Amazon’s first setback in Middle-earth. The company’s previous Lord of the Rings MMO, originally announced in 2019, was canceled two years later following a dispute with Tencent after it acquired Leyou, the studio Amazon had partnered with at the time.
In the wake of the cuts, Amazon Games has also confirmed that New World: Aeternum will no longer receive new content updates, though servers will remain active through 2026. The company says it will continue supporting the two MMOs it publishes—Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark—while shifting focus to smaller, more community-driven titles, including party games.
The takeaway
After years of delays, reboots, and abandoned projects, Amazon’s dream of building a Lord of the Rings MMO has once again crumbled under corporate reshuffling. The move reflects a broader industry trend: studios moving away from expensive, risky MMOs toward lighter, faster-to-develop live service and social games.
It’s a tough blow for Tolkien fans, but perhaps a sign that even in Middle-earth, not every quest is meant to be completed.
Louis Eriakha
