Few licensed video games have had as hard a go at delivering a brand-new game in the world of its respective IP as The Lord of the Rings. For nearly the last decade, The Lord of the Rings’ catalog of games has been unable to scratch fans’ hard-to-reach itches, even though it is commendable that The Lord of the Rings games have sought to branch out from purely action-oriented gameplay genres, such as how Tales of the Shire is a cozy life sim, or how Return to Moria is a crafting/survival sim.
Lately, fans have been stirred by the rumor that Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s Warhorse might be developing a new Lord of the Rings RPG. However, fans are also sharing their thoughts and grievances about a Lord of the Rings game that was recently binned, even if not many fans are surprised that this turned out to be its fate.
Per Eurogamer, this Lord of the Rings MMO has been canceled almost two years to the day following its initial announcement. Indeed, its cancellation had been rumored for a while, but has only now been confirmed.
On Twitter/X, user Mike Baker claims, “Everyone knew this was never coming out,” and fans have quickly begun comparing this cancellation to the fact that Amazon’s New World: Aeternum had its plug pulled, potentially foreshadowing that a Lord of the Rings MMO game’s doom was impending. Reddit user StealthGuardian shares a similar sentiment, writing, “Another day, another MMO cancelled. At this point it’s almost a genre tradition.”
That said, some fans see a cancellation of the MMO game this early into its development as a boon. This same user, StealthGuardian, empathizes with how difficult it must be to capture lightning in a bottle with MMO games: “The expectations are sky high, we don’t want to let it end up being Gollum the MMO” (in reference to the poorly-received Lord of the Rings: Gollum game).
Likewise, user Waifutifu believes this is “healthier than forcing out another half finished live service disaster.” So, while another scrapped MMO game is a shame, fans are choosing to look on the bright side instead.
Fortunately, the blow dealt by this sore Lord of the Rings news was softened with one silver lining. Amazon head of games Jeff Grattis has officially confirmed that some sort of pivot has been made, with a Lord of the Rings game still in development, though the likelihood of it being an MMO game is low:
“Our creative team continues to explore a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien’s world; we are working closely with Middle-earth and remain excited about the IP.”
Gamers may not want to get their hopes up too high about whatever this Lord of the Rings game may be, at least until an actual announcement and/or reveal. Even then, the Lord of the Rings IP is highly volatile, and only time will tell if this game can exceed fans’ expectations.
- Cast
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Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt
- Created by
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J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings is a multimedia franchise consisting of several movies and a TV show released by Amazon titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The franchise is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series that began in 1954 with The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings saw mainstream popularity with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
