Amazon isn’t just making a Lord of the Rings TV series: the Seattle, Washington-based company is now co-developing a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game based on the books from J.R.R. Tolkien.
According to Polygon, the upcoming MMO will be free-to-play and is based on Tolkien’s trilogy, not Peter Jackson’s excellent film adaptation. Further, it’s unrelated to Amazon’s TV series, which will predate the movies and focus on Sauron’s rise to power and the creation of the rings.
Amazon Game Studios is working with Athlon Games and its parent company, Leyou Technologies, which previously announced the creation of a Lord of the Rings game in 2018. At the time, Athlon said it would be for consoles and PC, but didn’t specify which consoles.
Further, in the press release Athlon shared in 2018, it said it would be an “online game set in the world of Middle-earth at a time long before the events of The Lord of the Rings.”
Amazon says developers from its internal gaming studios, including those working on its original MMO, New World, will support Athlon in making the Lord of the Rings game. The Seattle-based company boasts that its game studios veteran developers, who worked on games like Everquest, Destiny, Planetside, World of Warcraft and other MMOs, will contribute to the Lord of the Rings game’s development.
Amazon has not announced a release date for the new MMO.
Source: Polygon
