A Lord of the Rings MMORPG that’s been in development since early 2023 has apparently been cancelled. The expansive franchise based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novels has included several previous titles, many of which are highly regarded by the gaming community. The last time fans got to enjoy an MMORPG based on the novels came in 2007 with the release of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s The Lord of the Rings Online, but it’s considerably old compared to modern fare. Fans were eagerly anticipating a return to Middle-earth in an all-new, contemporary take on the franchise, but the game’s development ceased in October 2025.
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According to Bloomberg, Amazon began laying off 14,000 people in late October 2025, resulting in a significant reduction in personnel working at Amazon Games, which was publishing the MMORPG. While it wasn’t clear which divisions would take the brunt of the cuts, Ashleigh Amrine, a former Senior Gameplay Engineer at Amazon Games, revealed on LinkedIn that she was among the 14,000 cut, and the Lord of the Rings MMORPG was no longer in development. She included a note, adding, “Y’all would have loved it,” which seems likely given the amount of time, talent, and money that was previously attached.
Amazon’s Layoffs Resulted in the death of the Lord of the Rings MMORPG
Amazon Games has been around since 2012, and it’s focused on publishing new content since its inception. That strategy appears to have shifted with the latest round of layoffs, which Amazon noted in a memo released on October 28, 2025, included “significant role reductions” at Amazon Games. The company is shifting its focus to its cloud gaming service Luna, which primarily serves as a TV-based platform for launching pre-existing titles. While The Lord of the Rings MMORPG is dead, Amazon Games will continue to develop and release March of Giants, a new Tomb Raider game, and “casual and AI-focused games.”
In addition to the loss of employment for thousands of developers, the layoffs and subsequent cancelling of the MMORPG is a blow to gamers everywhere. Since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring hit theaters in 2001, gamers have had access to a plethora of titles based on the franchise. There are plenty of older Lord of the Rings games that still hold up, but the loss of the forthcoming MMORPG is a significant blow to the community. While few details of the now-cancelled game were released, it would have been set in a persistent, open-world Middle-earth, drawing inspiration from the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogies.
Not only does the cancellation hurt longtime fans of the franchise, but it also represents a missed opportunity. Another Amazon product, its exceptionally expensive The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power streaming series, could have also been incorporated into the game. This would have significantly expanded the storyline to before the Third Age, when Sauron and his power are finally destroyed after the One Ring is thrown into the fires of Mount Doom. Even if players weren’t enamored with the series, its inclusion would have meant more expansive playtime, but now that it’s dead, it could be years before another studio attempts to develop a Lord of the Rings MMORPG.
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