Amazon has reportedly cancelled its Lord of the Rings MMO for the second time, following the company’s latest round of mass layoffs. The news surfaced after former senior gameplay engineer Ashleigh Amrine revealed on LinkedIn that the project had been shut down along with several positions at Amazon Games, including roles tied to New World and the in-development Lord of the Rings game.
Amazon previously attempted a LOTR MMO in 2019 in collaboration with Leyou, but the project was cancelled in 2021 after Tencent’s acquisition of the Chinese company. The second version, announced in 2023 with Embracer Group, was described as a “persistent open-world MMO adventure” set across The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings timeline.
The cancellation comes amid Amazon’s shift away from MMOs, following the decision to end development on New World. Servers for that game will remain online through 2026.
With an estimated 14,000 employees affected by the layoffs, this marks another major setback for Amazon’s gaming ambitions — and another lost journey through Middle-earth.
