Amazon has officially canceled its development of the "Lord of the Rings" MMO game.
This follows the rumors that circulated last year about the layoffs that allegedly took place under Amazon Game Studios, which has reportedly affected the "Lord of the Rings" game.
Amazon Officially Cancels 'Lord of the Rings' MMO
GameRant has reported that Amazon has confirmed the cancellation of its "Lord of the Rings" MMO, putting an end to months of speculation that began following a wave of major layoffs late last year.
This was made official after Eurogamer reached out to Amazon Game Studios to ask about the status of the "Lord of the Rings" game after the AI game "Project Trident" was canceled.
"Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien's world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP," Amazon's Head of Games, Jeff Grattis, said.
That statement effectively confirms the originally announced "Lord of the Rings" MMO is dead. However, Amazon appears unwilling to walk away from the franchise entirely, with the Middle-Earth IP still to continue to be a project that Amazon could explore in the future, just not at this time.
Rumors Last Year Came True for 'LOTR' Game
Amazon first announced it was making a "Lord of the Rings" MMO back in May 2023, and the game entered its pre-production phase in late 2025. It would have been the second "Middle-earth-based" MMO on the market, following "The Lord of the Rings Online" by Daybreak.
However, a layoff of around 14,000 employees in October 2025 heavily affected Amazon Game Studios, and a LinkedIn post from the company's senior gameplay engineer said that fans "would have loved" the "Lord of the Rings" MMO.
A leaked internal memo from Amazon's Vice President of Games, Steve Bloom, also suggested the company was scaling back its AAA and MMO production.
Publications and fans put two and two together, which led to the rumor last year that the game is getting canceled.
Originally published on Player One
