Amazon has decided to cancel its free-to-play massively multiplayer online (MMO) game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic high fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. The news comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who explained that the cancellation had stemmed from a dispute between Amazon and Tencent, parent company of co-developer Leyou Technologies Holdings. Amazon confirmed that it was unable to secure terms to proceed with the title and that it’d be moving the team to other projects.
Big news: We’re working with Leyou to develop and publish a free-to-play MMO based on The Lord of the Rings world for consoles and PC. https://t.co/1KxddnBMpo pic.twitter.com/Cr7PrN6dVl
— Amazon Games (@AMZNGameStudios) July 10, 2019
Amazon’s embattled video game division has canceled an online role-playing game based on the fantasy series Lord of the Rings in another setback for the technology giant https://t.co/bNP4eKYd9A
— Bloomberg (@business) April 17, 2021
The cancellation follows a string of bad news for Amazon Game Studios, which has been unable to release a successful video game since launching in 2014. The company has canceled previous announced games Breakaway and Crucible. Another of its games, New World, has been delayed repeatedly.