Amazon is keen to milk The Lord of the Rings for all it’s worth by releasing a video game to accompany history’s most expensive series.
The Jeff Bezos-founded giant recently announced a partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises (a division of Freemode), thereby giving Amazon Games the greenlight to develop and publish a brand new massively multiplayer online (MMO) title based on the universe originally conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien.
“We’re committed to bringing players high-quality games, whether through original IPs or long-beloved ones like The Lord of the Rings,” said Amazon Games VP Christoph Hartmann.
“Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world.”
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“We’re also pleased to be expanding our relationship with Embracer Group following our Tomb Raider deal last year, as they’ve proven to be excellent collaborators.”
Freemode CEO Lee Guinchard added: “The world of Middle-earth continues to prove an endlessly fertile ground for creators, and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience.”
While details about the yet-to-be-titled project are sparse at this stage, we know the experience will entail an open-world adventure featuring the beloved stories of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy. We also know it’ll be available globally for PC and consoles, although a release date is still TBD.
This marks Amazon’s second attempt at producing a Lord of the Rings MMO after setting plans with Hong Kong game company Leyou Technologies back in 2019, which were later abandoned after China’s Tencent acquired Leyou Technologies and Amazon failed to negotiate with the former.
