Amazon has officially canceled its Lord of the Rings massively multiplayer online game (MMO). While rumors of the cancellation circulated after Amazon’s layoffs in October 2025, the company has now confirmed the news.
Amazon revealed plans for a Lord of the Rings massively multiplayer online game (MMO) in May 2023, and development began in late 2025. However, Amazon has now cancelled the project. Had it been released, it would have been the second MMO set in Middle-earth, joining The Lord of the Rings Online, which continues to be popular nearly 19 years after its debut.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO Is Officially Canceled
In October 2025, Amazon cut approximately 14,000 jobs. These layoffs heavily impacted Amazon Game Studios, leading many to believe the company had canceled its planned Lord of the Rings online game. Shortly after, a former Amazon Game Studios engineer shared on LinkedIn that fans would have enjoyed the game, and a leaked memo from Amazon’s Vice President of Games, Steve Bloom, indicated the company was reducing its focus on large-scale, high-budget games and MMOs.
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For the past seven months, people have been speculating about the cancellation of the Lord of the Rings MMO. Today, those rumors were confirmed. Eurogamer was looking into the cancellation of Amazon’s Project Trident, a game developed using generative AI, and asked for an update on the Lord of the Rings MMO. Jeff Grattis, Amazon’s Head of Games, provided the following statement:
We’re developing an exciting new game that truly captures the spirit of Tolkien’s world. We’re working directly with the creators of Middle-earth and are very enthusiastic about this project.
Okay, so it’s looking like that Lord of the Rings MMO we heard about last May has been scrapped. Bummer! But it’s not all bad news – Amazon hasn’t given up on Middle-earth completely. They’re apparently working on a brand new Lord of the Rings game, something they’re calling a “compelling new game experience.” Now, I heard a rumor back in March from Insider Gaming that Crystal Dynamics might be the studio behind it. They’re already teaming up with Amazon on the new Tomb Raider games – Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst – so it makes sense they could be working on this too. Fingers crossed it’s something awesome!
The (Brief) Development History of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO
Eurogamer’s reporting confirms that Amazon has cancelled its long-awaited Lord of the Rings MMO. Sources reveal the game struggled from the start, as Amazon announced it before assembling a proper development team. For years, only a small number of people worked on the project part-time. Just before recent layoffs, over 1,000 developers were shifted from New World: Aeternum to work on the Lord of the Rings game. Now, it seems Amazon only has developers left to maintain its existing MMOs like New World, Throne and Liberty, and Lost Ark.
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2026-05-14 17:10