A Lord of the Rings MMO has been announced as being in development at Amazon.
Earlier today on May 15, Amazon and Embracer Group announced an agreement to developer a Lord of the Rings MMO. The new game will be developed internally by Amazon Games, and will also be published on PCs and consoles alike by Amazon, meaning Embracer is basically licensing the game over to Amazon in its entirety.
And yes, you read that right: The new Lord of the Rings MMO will be coming to both PCs and console platforms alike. We don't yet have a release window announcement for the new MMO, but at least console players won't have to worry about left out in the cold on this one.
Since this is in development at Amazon Games, it means there's some history here with MMOs. The studio previously put out New World, an MMO which launched to a pretty solid reception and player base, so there's a track record for Amazon Games making good MMOs, at least.
You might remember Embracer Group first acquired the rights to both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings last year in August 2022. Fans were nervous at the time, weary of a giant conglomerate company holding the rights to a beloved series and franchise at large, arguing it was completely antithetical to the spirit of the original novels.
It's hard from the announcement to gauge how far along the Lord of the Rings MMO is in development. Considering Embracer acquired the rights under a year ago though, it's really likely the MMO is still pretty early along in development, and we shouldn't expect to play it for at least a few years yet.
This is the first new Lord of the Rings-related game to be announced since Embracer first acquired the rights last year. We've got The Lord of the Rings: Gollum finally emerging from the shadows for a console and PC release later this month on May 25 in the meantime, though.
Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look at what else is on the near horizon for launch this year.
