Amazon has reportedly canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO, significantly halting its work on such games.
An Amazon executive announced the company is discontinuing “a significant amount” of its MMO development. This decision has affected the Lord of the Rings MMO, a collaborative project with Embracer.
A former senior gameplay engineer for Amazon Games stated on LinkedIn, “This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y’all would have loved it).” Rock Paper Shotgun reported on this post; LinkedIn displays “this post cannot be displayed” when accessed directly. Neither Amazon nor Embracer provided immediate comment. The Lord of the Rings game remains listed on the Amazon Games website.
Following the layoffs, developers of New World: Aeternum, an internally developed Amazon MMO, confirmed no new content updates would be released for the game. Its servers will remain active through 2026. Amazon spokesperson Brittney Hefner informed The Verge the company will continue supporting two published MMOs: Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark.
The canceled Lord of the Rings game with Embracer, initially announced in 2023, marked Amazon’s second attempt at an MMO within the LOTR universe. The first LOTR MMO was unveiled in 2019 and subsequently canceled two years later.
