According to rumors, it seems that the development of Lord of the Rings MMO is in trouble according to a post by former Amazon Games employee Ashleigh Amrine on LinkedIn. "This morning I was part of the laid-off employees of Amazon Games along with a talented team that worked on New World and Lord of the Rings (you would love them). It’s always hard to see a strong team go through something like this - I was lucky to work with some of the most skilled, creative, and wonderful developers I’ve met."
If this rumor is confirmed, it wouldn’t be a big surprise, as Amazon announced that it is moving away from developing MMO games and will be shutting down the aforementioned New World. The American company announced on Tuesday that it has laid off 14 thousand employees, including a large part of the Amazon Games Orange County team (developers of New World). The Lord of the Rings MMO was first announced in 2023 as a partnership with Embracer Group, describing the title as a lasting open-world adventure connected to the original trilogy and The Hobbit.
