The latest in a string of failures from Amazon’s game studio.
Amazon’s gaming venture just can’t catch a break. As reported by Jason Schreier of Bloomberg today, the Lord of the Rings MMO has been officially cancelled. According to a spokesperson for Amazon, the cancellation came due to a dispute with Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Tencent purchased Leyou, the company working on the Lord of the Rings title alongside Amazon, and contract negotiations between Amazon and Tencent fell apart in the ensuing months.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed that after Tencent’s acquisition of Leyou, “we have been unable to secure terms to proceed with this title at this time.”
The news might be a breath of relief for players of the current Lord of the Rings Online, some of whom feared a similar scenario from when Star Wars: The Old Republic released around the same time the license was not renewed for Star Wars Galaxies, leading to the sunsetting of the older MMO.
MMO Fallout 