Amazon is developing a new Lord of the Rings MMO

The Embracer Group acquired Middle-earth Enterprises in 2022 from The Saul Zaentz Company. The company now owns worldwide rights to films, video games, board games, merchandise, theme parks, and stage productions based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

"The world of Middle-earth continues to prove an endlessly fertile ground for creators, and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience," Lee Guinchard, CEO of Embracer Freemode said.

"We have the clear ambition to create the highest-quality entertainment products for this IP, whether we utilize internal resources or team up with the best industry partners that complement our capabilities. We're taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world."

This is not the first time Amazon Games worked on a Lord of the Rings MMO. The company partnered with Athlon Games to develop an MMO based on the popular novel. Athlon's parent company Leyou Technologies was acquired by Tencent in December 2020. The game was reportedly canceled because of a dispute with Tencent.

It will be interesting to see how Amazon develops this new MMO given its success with its hit TV show The Rings of Power. A vast open-world MMO featuring the classes and races found in J.R.R. Tolkien's novels sounds rather appealing to fans. Getting to play as a Dwarf berserker, a Half-Elf ranger, and a Hobbit thief is quite intriguing. Hopefully, the upcoming title will include most, if not all, of the major landmarks in Middle-earth as it plays a major part in what fans envision a Lord of the Rings game would be.

It would be awesome if the MMO featured some of the massive epic battles giving players a chance to participate in these iconic moments. As with most MMOs, character customization, skill and weapon progression, and world-building will be crucial to the success of the title. Amazon will have their hands full as fans would expect something as grandiose as World of Warcraft in this new MMO.

The upcoming The Lord of the Rings MMO is coming to PC and consoles. No release date has been announced for the title.