Following recent cuts at Amazon, it appears the upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on The Lord of the Rings is also being cancelled, similar to what happened with New World: Aeternum. Ashleigh Amrine, a former senior gameplay engineer at Amazon Games, shared news of the cancellation on LinkedIn, as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, but the post has since been removed.
This morning, Amrine was affected by layoffs at Amazon Games, along with other skilled team members working on New World and the early stages of the Lord of the Rings game (which Amrine believes players would have enjoyed). Amazon hasn’t officially announced what this means for the Lord of the Rings project yet.
As a huge Lord of the Rings fan, I was so excited when Amazon Games first announced they were making an MMORPG based on the books way back in May 2023! It was going to be made by the same team that created New World, which gave me a lot of hope. Apparently, Amazon Games had a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises – they own the rights, and Middle-earth Enterprises is actually part of Embracer Group.
Not many specifics about the project were available, except that it would be based on the stories from all four main books in The Lord of the Rings – The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. The game was also planned to have a lasting, expansive world for players to explore throughout Middle-earth.
The project was likely canceled because Amazon is laying off over 14,000 employees, including those in its gaming divisions. In a company announcement, Amazon stated it will now focus on developing simpler, AI-driven games. Development of the Tomb Raider game by Crystal Dynamics is still underway, however.
The recent layoffs at Amazon have also impacted the future of the game New World. Amazon Game Studios has announced that they will no longer be creating new content for the game. Season 10 and the Nighthaven update are the last updates planned, but the ‘Rise of the Angry Earth’ expansion is now available for free to all PC players.
In celebration of its four-year anniversary on PC, Amazon Game Studios shared a message acknowledging the amazing support of its player community. They emphasized that player feedback has been crucial in developing the game world of Aeternum. However, after four years of updates and a recent console launch, the team has determined they can no longer continue to create new content for the game.
Although Amazon Game Studios isn’t planning to add new content to New World: Aeternum, they’ve confirmed the game’s servers will stay online until at least the end of 2026. Players will receive at least six months’ notice if those plans change.
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2025-10-30 17:11