It’s been confirmed that Amazon’s ambitious online multiplayer The Lord Of The Rings game has been cancelled.
READ MORE: The magnificent medieval music of ‘Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2′
Amazon started working on a new The Lord Of The Rings game in 2023 after a previous attempt was scrapped. The project was being created alongside game developers Embracer and Middle-Earth Enterprises. “We understand this world. The people working on this team love these works,” said Vice President of Amazon Games, Christoph Hartmann. “We’re right there with you; we’re fans, and we want to make a game that we, as fans, will enjoy.”
A few months later, Hartmann said the project was still in the “early stages” of development and Amazon was still “trying to find the hook” for what would make their Lord Of The Rings multiplayer game unique.
After plenty of speculation about the state of the project, Amazon’s Head of Games Jeff Grattis has now told Eurogamer that the game has been scrapped. “Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien’s world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP,” he added.
Amazon Game Studios has cancelled its Lord of the Rings MMO.
Announced in May 2023 in partnership with Embracer, the project was still in very early pre-production.
The decision follows Amazon’s major layoffs last October, which scaled back several first-party AAA and MMO.… pic.twitter.com/VLPYoIEL9c
— Pirat_Nation (@Pirat_Nation) May 14, 2026
Back in October, Amazon made “significant role reductions” at Amazon Game Studios and it was reported that work on a “significant amount” of their first-party AAA game development work would be halted “specifically around MMOs”. In a now deleted post on Linkedin, senior gameplay engineer Ashleigh Amrine confirmed she was part of the layoffs at Amazon Game Studios and her whole team had lost their jobs. She also suggested that the “fledgling” Lord Of The Rings game would never be finished. “Y’all would have loved it,” she added.
There have been rumours that Kingdom Come: Deliverance creators Warhorse Studios are currently working on a new The Lord Of The Rings game. A report last year claimed the title was being created as a “rival” to single-player game Hogwarts Legacy but the project hasn’t been officially announced.
It’s not all bad news for Lord Of The Rings fans though. New blockbuster movie The Hunt For Gollum is set to launch December 17, 2027 and will see most of the film trilogy’s original cast return for the prequel.
In other news Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders will go live next week, according to an email from US retail giants Best Buy.
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