Amazon game studio is working on LotR MMO
Despite the sky-high expectations, enthusiast Jeff Bezos cannot look back entirely positively on his Amazon’s first Lord of the Rings publication. Hundreds of millions were invested in the first season of Rings of Power. However, the result was substandard. Critics generally found the first season to be a bit too much. Among viewers, on the other hand, the scores are much lower: 38% on Rotten Tomatoes and an almost painful 2.6 out of 10 on Metacritic. Only 37% of viewers have watched the series. It is therefore very doubtful whether the series, with a budget of 450 million the most expensive ever, has recovered its costs.
Yet Jeffrey is not easily discouraged. Like a true Sauron, he doesn’t let something as small as the loss of many millions, or the physical state of being, hold him back. No, as a true dark overlord you gather your bunch of orcs, wipe the Dúnedain blood from your steel boots and start the next project. In this case not a Barad-dûr but an MMO. I will leave the implication of that comparison undiscussed.
Not the first time
In 2007, when the MMO craze was at its peak, Microsoft tried to get a foot in the door with The Lord of the Rings Online. The game received good reviews and attracted a respectable number of players. However, in the following years, what always happens happened: player numbers drop, revenues decline. Today LOTR Online still has about 3 million players.
That sounds impressive, but it’s disappointing. First, that’s the total number of players, not the number of active players. Even with 3 million, the game is in 30th place. The most played MMO in absolute player numbers is still, drum roll please: World of Warcraft. It won’t surprise anyone who knows anything about MMOs. In the nearly 20 years since WoW’s release, many MMOs have tried, but none have managed to dethrone the king.
It’s not even the first time Amazon has said it’s working on a LOTR MMO. Already in 2019, the company indicated that it was working on an MMO in Tolkien’s world. Little news came out about it and in 2021 the plug was pulled from the project again.
Yet another attempt from the Amazon camp
It is therefore a bit special that Amazon in 2023 once again indicates that it is working on a LOTR MMO. MMOs haven’t been the hip genre du jour for years. WoW may still be the market leader, but player numbers have been declining for years. I don’t know what market research Amazon relies on, but it seems to me a bad move for a company that focuses on maximum turnover.
And the new game will have to make sales if it wants to enjoy support for a longer period of time. The acquisition of the LOTR intellectual property has cost Amazon about 770 million. We can probably add several million to that because of the Rings of Power fiasco.
However, it is not necessary to give up all hope just yet. Amazon Games Orange County already has a relatively successful MMO on the market with New World. With just under 15 million players, this game also ranks 15th among the largest MMOs. The same team is now working on the new LOTR MMO.
What is currently known?
Not much is known about the setting and gameplay yet. Amazon puts it a bit cautiously in their press release, but it seems that the MMO will take place at the time of the LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit movies. This in contrast to Rings Of Power, because the rights were lacking at the time. Perhaps that gap has now been filled and we will soon be able to exchange riddles with Gollum instead of Amazon’s own baking, if you wish.
When Amazon comes up with the details, we will of course list them all for you.
