A Lord of the Rings game is on the way from Amazon Games, as it enters an agreement with Embracer Group to develop an MMO game set within the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books.
That’s right, Amazon Games has entered a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises and owner Embracer Group to make a brand new Lord of the Rings game, which will be a multiplatform title and feature “iconic stories from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy.”
This follows the news from late last year that Embracer Group acquired Middle-earth Enterprises, meaning both Embracer and Amazon have entered this agreement for a new Lord of the Rings game.
Amazon’s plans for this to be an MMO are interesting, as that might sound familiar considering it already entered an agreement to develop a Lord of the Rings MMO back in 2019, before the same Lord of the Rings MMO was cancelled a few years later.
This first deal fell apart as it was between Amazon and Leyou, only for Leyou to then be acquired by Tencent, with complications to follow. So this new MMO is under a completely different agreement between Amazon and Embracer, as Embracer is the new owner of Middle-earth Enterprises. Also, this new Amazon LOTR MMO is not to be confused with Lord of the Rings Online, which you can play now.
Don’t worry if you didn’t quite follow that, it’s confusing.
This time the Lords of the Rings MMO will be helmed by Amazon Games Orange County, the studio behind Amazon MMO New World, and the new LOTR game will be set in a “persistent world” of “beloved stories” written by J.R.R. Tolkien.
“We’re committed to bringing players high-quality games, whether through original IPs or long-beloved ones like The Lord of the Rings,” Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann says. “Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world.”
Amazon has already entered a separate deal with Embracer, as it’s set to publish the new Unreal Engine 5 Tomb Raider game in development at Crystal Dynamics. This means that Amazon is part of multiple Embracer deals at present with the revived Lord of the Rings MMO the newest announcement.
If you want even more Lord of the Rings games I’ve got great news, as two of the best LOTR games are dirt cheap in a PC bundle right now. You’re going to need to act fast though, as both games are going off sale at some point today.
In the meantime, if you dive into the games on sale we’ve got a Middle-earth Shadow of War skills guide, and our Middle-earth Shadow of War review if you’re on the fence.
