Lord of the Rings MMO Coming From New World Developer Amazon Games [IGN]

New World developer Amazon Games has partnered with Embracer Group’s Middle-earth Enterprises to create a brand new MMO based on The Lord of the Rings.

The massively multiplayer online game, which is completely separate from 2007’s The Lord of the Rings Online and from Amazon’s previously cancelled Lord of the Rings MMO, is currently in the early stages of development and as of yet has no official title.

Amazon Games Orange County, the team behind New World, is leading development on the new MMO, which will come to PC and consoles. No release window was given, though Amazon Games did say it would feature the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings book trilogy.

“Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honoured and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world,” said Christoph Hartmann, Amazon Games vice president.

Hartmann also made clear to IGN that this project is a brand new take on a Lord of the Rings MMO and won’t be using any materials from the one Amazon cancelled in 2021. “It’s completely new,” he said. “The old project wasn’t very long [in] development. It’s not that it was a three year project, it was a fairly small team working on a certain part of the game, but that was not a full-blown production.”

The team at Amazon Games also appears confident in their ability to produce a high quality MMO, saying only technical limitations will hold them back.

“This is a completely new game because the license is much, much wider,” Hartmann continued.” Obviously, there’s nothing changing because we all know the world is set, the characters are set. It’s really the freedom we have in terms of gameplay features where now anything is possible, and the limitation is where it’s technically possible or not.”

“Before, it was like, ‘it’s a good idea but we can’t do it because there’s something else going on.’ Now, the mission we are on, and the mission Embracer fully supports, Middle-earth Enterprises fully supports, is to make the biggest, best MMO out there based on Lord of the Rings. That’s our ambition.”

Lee Guinchard, the CEO of Middle-earth Enterprises’ operative group Freemode, reiterated this point. “We’re taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world,” he said.

Being the biggest and best MMO based on Lord of the Rings will of course put it in competition with The Lord of the Rings Online, which still receives updates from developer Turbine despite being released 16 years ago.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.