It appears that Amazon has cancelled its Lord of the Rings MMO following huge layoffs at its games division. The job losses have affected thousands and already we've seen shutdowns such as the end of New World.
As caught by Rock Paper Shotgun, senior gameplay engineer Ashleigh Amrine announced she lost her job on LinkedIn. Alongside this unfortunate news, she shared an update that is sure to upset Lord of the Rings fans who wanted another chance to explore Middle-earth.
"This morning I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, alongside my incredibly talented peers on New World and our fledgling Lord of the Rings game (y'all would have loved it)," she said. "It's always tough to see such a strong team go through something like this. I've been lucky to work with some of the most skilled, creative, and kind developers I've ever met here."
This is actually the second Lord of the Rings MMO that Amazon has cancelled. The first was made in partnership with Chinese company Leyou in 2019 before work was cut short in 2021. This most recent endeavour was part of an agreement with Embracer, and was announced in 2023.
