As the saying goes: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s exactly what Amazon Games is doing, officially announcing another MMORPG based on The Lord of the Rings property. An earlier attempt to create a Lord of the Rings MMO was canceled in 2021 and today’s announcement was clear that this will be an all-new production and unrelated to the previous attempt. Heading development is the team behind New World, an internal studio at Amazon Games Orange County. While New World’s launch wasn’t exactly anything to brag about, the team did continue supporting the game. Unfortunately, the average number of players has dropped significantly even after the bump New World saw with the release of Brimstone Sands.
While there aren’t many details on the new Lord of the Rings project, Amazon Games did say not to expect New World 2.0 — which might actually be a good thing. The game, however, will use the same Azoth Engine underpinning New World, but the studio plans to evolve the engine considerably so the game feels distinct.
The first Lord of the Rings MMO was intended to be a co-development effort and it fell through, said Amazon Games. Following the success of New World, Amazon Games and Middle-earth Enterprises decided on a new collaboration, and that the Orange County studio would be best to lead development.
To make things even weirder, this new MMO has nothing to do with the existing The Lord of the Rings Online.
