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[Draugoth]

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Amazon is taking a second stab at creating an MMO based on The Lord of the Rings, following the cancellation of a similar project two years ago.

The company announced today that it has reached an agreement with Embracer Group, which owns the series' rights holder Middle-Earth Enterprises, to develop and publish an online multiplayer game based on Tolkien's renowned fantasy work.

The game will be developed by Amazon Games Orange County – the studio behind the retail giant's previous MMO New World – and will be released for PC and consoles. There is no word of a release date at this time.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann said the game is still in its very early stages, but confirmed it will feature stories and characters from both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

"We really just about finished the contract, literally got it signed this week," he said. "And obviously we talked about ideas, and shared concepts, but we're not really in development in any form. It's really at a conceptual stage. We're now going to start prototyping with a small team."

 

[DeepEnigma]

After their show?

Hard pass.

 

[Lasha]

I hope this doesn't mean an end to Lotro. Lotro is my favorite rendition of middle earth. Losing it for an AGS abortion would suck.

 

[AV]

From "the studio behind the retail giant's previous MMO New World", as if that's something to be proud of.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

I am so confused by Amazon.

Why not just buy Lord of the Rings out right? I need need someone to interview some executives there. Im gonna call Bezos. He got some bozos in there.

 

[Filben]

I wonder if they learned from New World?

 

[Fake]

The show was dogshit, so I expecting the game doing the same.

 

[L*][*N*K]

Coming 2033

 

[Tsaki]

From "the studio behind the retail giant's previous MMO New World", as if that's something to be proud of.

I had the impression the game was successful in its own way, no?

 

[samoilaaa]

I had the impression the game was successful in its own way, no?

it actually is pretty succesful , there arnt many mmos out there with combat as good as new world and the exploration feels great

 

[rodrigolfp]

Nah. I am good with TlotrO and doubt they can make a better game.

 

[AV]

I had the impression the game was successful in its own way, no?

Depends how low your bar is for "successful". Interest dropped off a cliff after a month or so, not to mention some outrageous issues when it launched.

I played some of the open beta, it was... fine. That doesn't fill me with confidence for a LOTR MMO.

 

[diffusionx]

With the game development talent of New World and the world-building/writing team that brought the Lord of Rings TV show to life, what can go wrong.

 

[RagnarokIV]

One GPU Killer to rule them all.

 

[Big Baller]

 

[BootsLoader]

Oh God no, they already massacred Lord of the rings enough.

 

[LordCBH]

Oh fuck off…all these LOTR games and I can’t get a mother fucking open world single player rpg. These companies are all ass.

 

[night13x]

I am sure this will do well especially after their well reveiwed show.

Lord of the Rings: Woken Dreams.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I am always up for more LOTR -- in whatever form. This IP is criminally underused in video games.

"I'll take what I can get."

 

[feynoob]

New world has a good open word.

Hope they don't fuck up the game.

 

[Ristifer]

 

[Exede]

I mean, i would like a more modern LOTR MMO, but as one who played New World i have my doubts that this devs are the right ones for the job...

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

lol, lmao even. this is the most hilarious bit of corporate news Ive seen in a hot minute. I hope that the failure is even more grand than New World, and that its catastophic failure drives more people to play LOTRO.

That being said, I cant wait to play a black transgender lesbian obese high elf who understands that good and evil is a social construct and that perhaps melkor not singing illuvatars song should be respected as his own personal truth that is equally as valid as illuvatars.

 

[TheKratos]

Hell yeah! Give me a great LOTR game! The show is great, fuck the haters.

 

[Complistic]

Sounds like a match made in hell.

 

[Flutta]

 

[Woopah]

I wish they just ported the PS2/Gamecube games to modern platforms, but I guess those are owned by EA

 

[DemonGamerTTT]

I believe that everyone agrees that amazon studio is a total failure and based on that they have done with the IPs they have license this game is going to be a gigantic pile of crap...

 

[Roman Empire]

Nah, I'm good.

 

[March Climber]

Amazon killed New World, they're currently killing Lost Ark, they've already poisoned Blue Protocol, they're going to kill Throne and Liberty, and you bet your bottom dollar they will kill this game too. Amazon's video game department has no idea what they're doing.

 

[Mr Hyde]

 

[BadBurger]

Most of our kids will be in college by the time this even gets a release date, but my fingers will crossed that it's good. Hell, when it comes to LotR stuff I'll settle for decent.

 

[Silver Wattle]

I think they will do alright with it, new world was a massive learning experience for them, the game started out as PvP only iirc, and they have been adding pve content and updating the game, so I think they could handle doing lotr.

 

[Shh]

So their mediocre show now warrants a mediocre game?

The show is great, fuck the haters.

It's great if dumpster fires are what entertain you.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

So their mediocre show now warrants a mediocre game?


It's great if dumpster fires are what entertain you.

I think when they go looking for pull quotes to sell their show, "mediocre" is one of the more positive criticisms floating around out there and could potentially be quoted in their promotional material

 

[Shh]

I think when they go looking for pull quotes to sell their show, "mediocre" is one of the more positive criticisms floating around out there and could potentially be quoted in their promotional material

I was trying to be polite with that word. The show makes me incredibly angry as someone that's been a fan of the series since before I could read (my dad read the original Hobbit to me when I was a kid and it was one of the first real books I read when I learned to read). I don't know how they could have screwed it up so badly with the billion dollar budget they had and with Tolkien's son on board. It's mind-boggling.

 

[Ozzie666]

Amazon gaming doesn't fill me with confidence for sure either does anything based on their TV show.

But the original LOTRO was good and was different enough from other MMO's to find its own space. They actually pioneered and introduced several new features we take for granted now in MMOS Their hands were tied with making classes and magic fit into the lore. A good amount of content and support, mounted combat, houses, raids, dungeons, solo instances. I haven't look at it since Mirkwood content. If I recall you actually had to read quest dialogue and figure things out, less hand holding. The game deserved better.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

I was trying to be polite with that word. The show makes me incredibly angry as someone that's been a fan of the series since before I could read (my dad read the original Hobbit to me when I was a kid and it was one of the first real books I read when I learned to read). I don't know how they could have screwed it up so badly with the billion dollar budget they had and with Tolkien's son on board. It's mind-boggling.

Just about every show based on a beloved property these days is made by hateful hacks who don't love the source material and take pleasure in destroying it since they can't make anything original that anyone would care about. Then they just make sure to race and gender swap characters so when fans point out an AI could write better than they do, they can say that fans are toxic racist sexist bigots.

Amazon's show is a vanity project. "What's the biggest fantasy property? It's mine now and it will say what I want to say!" That's a very different approach from the popular movies of 20 years ago, where Peter Jackson said he took pains to not put any of his own messaging into the film and try to make sure it would say what Tolkien wanted it to say. From what I heard, Tolkien's son Christopher protected his legacy fiercely until he died, but the current Tolkien estate are probably just regular rich assholes who think all that nonsense about elves and dwarves needs to be "updated for modern audiences."

Corpos like Amazon are a bit like Sauron really. Being evil, they can't understand Tolkien the same way Sauron can't understand the fellowship. Sauron never would have imagined the fellowship planned to destroy the one ring, he presumed they would want to wield it for its power because that's what he would do, so he wasn't properly prepared for them to enter mount doom. Amazon have rights to something incredible but they don't understand why it's so special or how to capture that magic. So they just make their own trash with "Lord of the Rings" written on it. Even with billions they're bound to fail.

 

[Arsic]

Sucks to be the new world community. This is a giant flag of “your game is now on life support with a skeleton crew.”

They’ll move all the main folks onto LOTRO and that’s that.

I’m all for it though. I liked new world at launch a lot. It’s end game that was total diarrhea .

I think more traditional mmo systems for a new lord of the rings mmo would be huge if done right.

 

[LordCBH]

The show is great, fuck the haters.

Found the one person able to stay awake through that boring, poorly written train wreck of a show.

 

[In Cold Blood]

This might be a hint that Amazon want to become a Publisher in their own right. Could absolutely see them grabbing an EA or Ubisoft.
I'm not sure why they haven't already.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Hell yeah! Give me a great LOTR game! The show is great, fuck the haters.

 

[zomboden]

We need a new STAR WARS MMO. What happened to those rumors about Zenimax working on a Mandalorian themed MMO?

 

[Mephisto40]

It seems like Amazon are just pumping out MMO's like throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks

 

[IDKFA]

Coming 2033

This. They haven't even started development work yet.

I really don't see the point in announcing a game that hasn't even got out the concept stage yet.

 

[mxbison]

I don't understand all the hate New World got.

It cost 40$ and I got like 50-60 hours of good entertainment out of it. What's the issue? Not every game needs to keep you playing for years.

 

[Lord Panda]

Hell yeah! Give me a great LOTR game! The show is great, fuck the haters.

 

[Fuz]

Just about every show based on a beloved property these days is made by hateful hacks who don't love the source material and take pleasure in destroying it since they can't make anything original that anyone would care about.

*

 

[UltimaKilo]

I don't understand all the hate New World got.

It cost 40$ and I got like 50-60 hours of good entertainment out of it. What's the issue? Not every game needs to keep you playing for years.

They’re no longer making content for it?

 

[Trogdor1123]

Not sure I understand all the negative new world comments. The game seemed pretty decent and was well received I thought? Even more so as the studio is really just getting going. Am I confusing it with something else?