According to IGN, Amazon Game Studios will be spearheading the making of a new The Lord of the Rings MMORPG. It’s a three-way collaboration with Leylou Technologies and Middle-earth Enterprises. The project is the same one that Athlon Games (Leylou subsidiary) announced last year.
The game is a free-to-play adventure set in Middle-earth that is portrayed in the original books by J.R.R Tolkien, not Peter Jackson’s film trilogy. “Tolkien’s Middle-earth is one of the richest fictional worlds in history and it gives our team of experienced MMO developers…tremendous opportunity to play and create,” says Amazon Game Studios VP Chrisoph Hartman.
The development team led by Amazon Game Studios will be made of veterans from popular MMO games like World of Warcraft, Destiny and more. They also develop Amazon’s upcoming game, New World.
Though you may recall from earlier this year when another new LOTR game is in the works. Called The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, it’s a narrative adventure game by Daedalic Entertainment that’s focused on the titular character, from him finding the One Ring to the beginnings of The Lord of The Rings original books. The game is also a collaboration with Middle-earth Enterprises. But so far, Amazon hasn’t confirmed if their MMORPG will be related to this game.
However, Amazon does assure fans that the game will have no connection to the new LOTR TV series for Amazon Prime. The upcoming series will centre around the Second Age, the time period before the events in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. There’s still no word on what the series will focus on, but notable events that happened during the Second Age in the book include the forging of the Rings of Power and the One Ring and the War of the Last Alliance where Sauron was defeated and the One Ring not destroyed. Juan Antonio (J.A.) Bayona will be directing the first two episodes of the series and executive produce with his producing partner Belén Atienza while JD Payne and Patrick McKay have been named the series’ lead writers.
There’s no set release date yet for the LOTR MMO, but it will be available on PC and game consoles.
You must be logged in to post a comment.