Amazon Game Studios has announced its latest project: a Lord of the Rings massively multiplayer online game that Amazon is developing in partnership with Leyou. It’s planned as a free-to-play title for both PC and consoles.
Athlon Games is teaming up with Amazon Game Studios to help bring its upcoming Lord of the Rings game to market.
Athlon parent company Leyou announced in September that the publisher had signed a long-term licensing agreement with Middle-earth Enterprises to “create a completely new experience for fans of the landmark fantasy work of J.R.R. Tolkien.”
The game was said to be set “in the world of Middle-earth long at a time long before the events of The Lord of the Rings,” allowing players to explore lands, creatures and people never seen before in the Tolkien universe. Today’s e-mailed presser from Amazon Game Studios notes it will be “set in the world of Middle-earth portrayed in The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy” but doesn’t mention a specific time period. Presumably, it’s still in the earlier period as previously mentioned.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO also won’t be the first MMO based on Tolkien’s world. The Lord of the Rings Online has been around since 2007, offering players a new adventure to play alongside the events of the trilogy during the War of the Ring, with the most recent update released in October 2018.
There are no details yet regarding when Amazon expects to release the MMO or on which consoles it’ll be available, but we’re expecting to get more details as development continues.
