Amazon Is Developing a Free Lord of the Rings Online Multiplayer Game

By Molly Schramm  |  July 10, 2019 | 11:19am
Images via New Line Cinemas
Video Games News Lord of the Rings
Amazon Is Developing a Free Lord of the Rings Online Multiplayer Game

Accompanying their forthcoming Lord of the Rings TV series, Amazon is developing an untitled, online multiplayer game based on the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy books, per THR.

Middle-earth Enterprises, which owns the rights to specifics from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, is teaming up with Amazon Game Studios and Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited, a Chinese videogame holding company, to create the game. It’s the same game that was introduced to Athlon Games, the publisher of Warfare.

Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings game will be a free-to-play massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, available for both PC and consoles. The game’s plot hasn’t been explicitly revealed, but it will allow players to roam Middle-earth alongside other players from around the world. There is also no current release date or title for the MMO, either.

“Tolkien’s Middle-earth is one of the richest fictional worlds in history, and it gives our team of experienced MMO developers — from the same studio developing New World — tremendous opportunity to play and create,” Christoph Hartmann, Amazon Game Studios vice president, told THR. “We have a strong leadership team in place to helm this new project, and we’re actively growing our team to help build this incredible experience.”

The MMO developers for the game are currently working on Amazon Game Studios’ New World. The developers have also worked on MMOs such as Everquest and World of Warcraft.

“Bringing Middle-earth to life necessitates having the very best partners, and Amazon’s customer obsession, technology and talented teams make it the ideal choice for a co-developer and publisher,” Alex Xu, Leyou CEO, told THR.

Amazon is also currently developing their big-budget Lord of the Rings series, which recently set its director. The series’ plot is being kept under wraps, but will take place long before the storyline of Tolkien’s books. Middle-earth Enterprises is also developing another videogame with German company Daedalic, which will center on the Lord of the Rings character Gollum.

 
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