Amazon has canceled its Lord of the Rings game due to a dispute with Chinese company Tencent.
According to a Bloomberg report, the online RPG based on Lord of the Rings is no longer in development.
The game had been in development with Amazon Game Studios alongside the China-based Leyou Technologies Holdings Ltd. since 2019. The latter was eventually purchased by Tencent this past December.
New Line Cinema
Because contract negotiations fell through between Amazon and Tencent, the game has been canceled, according to people familiar with the matter.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that after the acquisition of Leyou, it was “unable to secure terms to proceed with this title” at this time.
“We love the Lord of the Rings IP, and are disappointed that we won’t be bringing this game to customers,” the spokesperson said (thanks, resetera).
The Amazon team working on the game will be moved to other projects.
Amazon Game Studios announced the free-to-play MMO based on The Lord of the Rings in July of 2019.
The Amazon Game Studios (AGS) team working with Leyou and Athlon Games included veteran developers who have worked on EverQuest, Destiny, Planetside, World of Warcraft, Defiance, Rift, and other MMOs.
The co-developed title was to be released for PC and consoles and was unrelated to the Amazon Original TV series based on The Lord of the Rings set to debut at some point through Amazon Prime.
Content of the game was never shared, but it was to be based on the world depicted in the trilogy.