Amazon Cancels Its Free-to-Play Lord of the Rings MMO

[Tsing]

Image: Warner Bros.



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)...

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[Brian_B]

Well... I was looking forward to another LOTR MMO, but Amazon did exactly what I was afraid Amazon would do, given their track record with... basically every other game they have tried.

Dammit

 

[Dogsofjune]

Well, like most things in my life, sounds good, never happens.

 

[Eduardo_Domingot]

Well... I was looking forward to another LOTR MMO, but Amazon did exactly what I was afraid Amazon would do, given their track record with... basically every other game they have tried.

Dammit

It truly feels as if they cannot produce a AAA game title without canceling halfway through production.
It's odd to me given the access to talent and incredible resources they have. Heres to hoping they get their organization in gear and actually produce the titles they talk about.

 

[Brian_B]

It truly feels as if they cannot produce a AAA game title without canceling halfway through production.
It's odd to me given the access to talent and incredible resources they have. Heres to hoping they get their organization in gear and actually produce the titles they talk about.

Yeah - they have all the right pieces in place it seems... except management

 

[Armenius]

Has Amazon had any successful video game launch yet, or do they just continue to throw money in the wind?

It truly feels as if they cannot produce a AAA game title without canceling halfway through production.
It's odd to me given the access to talent and incredible resources they have. Heres to hoping they get their organization in gear and actually produce the titles they talk about.

The problem is they think they can approach and run a video game business the same way they run their retail business. There are many articles out there that talk about this issue. You can't do anything with all that talent if the people holding the money don't listen to them or give them control of the projects.

 

[Brian_B]

Has Amazon had any successful video game launch yet, or do they just continue to throw money in the wind?

They bought Twitch. That's as close as they've come that I'm aware of.

New World is set to actually release August 31, but it's been re-written 3 (?) times now, and changed business models at least once, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

 

[Armenius]

They bought Twitch. That's as close as they've come that I'm aware of.

New World is set to actually release August 31, but it's been re-written 3 (?) times now, and changed business models at least once, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

Twitch is a streaming service that already existed and Amazon managed to turn it into a trash heap. Twitch makes most of its money from thirsty whales watching thots treating the service like a cam girl site, not people playing video games.