Amazon’s long-in-development The Lord of the Rings MMO appears to be over, marking another setback for the company’s ambitious push into large-scale online games. The project was originally announced in 2023 as a new open-world MMO set in Middle-earth, with Amazon Games working alongside Embracer Group’s Middle-earth Enterprises. At the time, Amazon said the game would feature stories from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Amazon Games Orange County leading development for PC and consoles.
The latest update comes after months of uncertainty around the project. Reports from October 2025 claimed the MMO had been cancelled amid wider cuts at Amazon Games, but Amazon had not clearly addressed the game’s future at the time. Now, Amazon’s head of games, Jeff Grattis, has suggested the company is still interested in making something with the IP, even if this specific MMO is no longer moving forward.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO Has Reportedly Been Cancelled
According to recent reporting, Amazon’s planned Lord of the Rings MMO has effectively been cancelled after failing to survive the company’s broader restructuring. Amazon’s latest attempt at a Middle-earth MMO “failed to materialize,” after earlier reports said the project was impacted by Amazon’s 2025 layoffs and shift away from major MMO development.
The project had been announced with serious promise. Amazon and Embracer described it as an open-world MMO set in a persistent version of Middle-earth, built around the worlds of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. However, the game never received a title, trailer, gameplay reveal, or release window, which already made its future feel uncertain long before the cancellation reports began.
Jeff Grattis Says Amazon Is Still Exploring Middle-earth
The interesting part is that Amazon does not seem ready to walk away from Tolkien’s world entirely. Jeff Grattis said Amazon’s creative team continues to explore “a compelling new game experience” that does justice to Tolkien’s world, adding that the company is still working closely with Middle-earth and remains excited about the IP.
It suggests the company may be looking at a different kind of Middle-earth game, possibly one with a smaller scope or a structure that avoids the massive cost and long-term live service demands of an MMO.
The cancellation also fits into Amazon Games’ recent direction. In late 2025, Amazon made major cuts across its games division as part of a larger company-wide reduction of around 14,000 jobs. Reports at the time said Amazon was scaling back first-party AAA development, with MMOs hit especially hard.
That shift also affected New World: Aeternum, Amazon’s own MMO. Amazon previously confirmed it would stop releasing new content for New World, with the Nighthaven update becoming its final major content release. Later reporting also stated that New World: Aeternum is set to shut down on January 31, 2027.
With that context, it is not surprising that another expensive MMO project would struggle to move forward. MMOs require years of development, large teams, constant content updates, server support, and a player base big enough to justify the cost. Amazon has already learned how difficult that market can be.
This Is Not Amazon’s First Cancelled Lord of the Rings MMO
This is also not the first time Amazon has lost a Lord of the Rings MMO. The company previously worked on a separate MMO with Leyou Technologies, but that project was cancelled in 2021 after Leyou was acquired by Tencent. This latest project with Embracer marks Amazon’s second failed attempt to bring Middle-earth into the MMO space.
The Lord of the Rings feels like a natural fit for a big online RPG, with different races, regions, factions, and massive fantasy battles. Yet for Amazon, the idea has now fallen apart twice before reaching players.
Could Amazon’s Next Middle-earth Game Be Something Smaller?
Amazon has not announced what its next Middle-earth project could be, so anything beyond Grattis’ statement is speculation. Still, the phrase “new game experience” leaves the door open for something that is not an MMO.
A smaller co-op RPG, an action-adventure game, or a narrative-driven open-world title would all make more sense in the current market than another huge live service MMO. Amazon also continues to work with external partners on other games, including the new Tomb Raider project with Crystal Dynamics and an open-world driving game from Maverick Games.
