Game News

Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO is reportedly dead, replaced by an unnamed Tolkien game

Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO, announced in 2023, appears to have been cancelled. Eurogamer reported the cancellation on 14 May, and Gameranx said the same day that Amazon had indirectly confirmed it. Amazon's written statement does not name the MMO; it points to a new, unnamed Tolkien game instead.

The game was a collaboration with Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of Embracer Group, and Gameranx said it was to be made by Amazon Games Orange County. India's Outlook Respawn, relaying Eurogamer's sources, said more than 1,000 developers had been expected to move from New World: Aeternum to the Middle-earth project before it was cancelled. Gameranx recalled that Amazon laid off more than 1,000 employees in October 2025 without saying what happened to the studio or the MMO. Outlook Respawn added that a memo previously obtained by Variety said Amazon would halt a “significant amount” of its first-party AAA work.

“Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien's world.” — Amazon statement, via Gameranx

How each outlet framed it

• Gameranx — a quiet confirmation, while noting the statement never says “cancelled”; Amazon's next releases are 007 First Light and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.
• Outlook Respawn — the wider pullback: Amazon Games layoffs from 2023 to 2025, Andy Jassy's June 2025 comments on AI efficiency and the cancelled Project Trident.
• iXBT.games — a Russian-language report on 15 May whose headline treats the cancellation as done.

Where the details differ: Gameranx named Amazon's gaming chief as Jeff Gratis; Outlook Respawn wrote Jeffrey Gattis. Outlook Respawn said Amazon has not officially confirmed the cancellation, while Gameranx called the statement an indirect confirmation.