A major new Lord of the Rings computer game is being developed by Amazon Game Studios.
The massively multiplayer online (MMO) game is being developed in partnership with Leyou. They are planning for it to be a free-to-play game for PC and consoles.
No title or release date has been set, although a few details were revealed in a blog post by Amazon Game Studios.
The game will be set in the Middle Earth world from JRR. Tolkien’s classic literary trilogy, however it will take place “at a time long before the events of Lord of the Rings“.
It is not the first MMO set in Tolkien’s universe. However, the involvement of Amazon means the scale and development budget will likely be far grander than any game that has come before.
Amazon is also working on a new Lord of the Rings TV series for Prime Video. It will not be related to the game.
“We’re committed to bringing customers games of the highest quality, both with our own original IP as well as beloved cultural pillars like Lord of the Rings,” said Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Game Studios.
“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. 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.”
Leyou CEO Alex Xu added: “We believe our combined resources and expertise will result in a beautiful and compelling game that customers will love and play for years to come.”
