Lord Of The Rings open-world RPG will last us at least 10 years, dev aims

The Lord of the Rings open-world RPG will last us at least 10 years, the developer aims.

This week, Amazon announced that it is publishing a new The Lord of the Rings MMORPG and it will be developed by New World studio, Amazon Games Orange County.

This new and upcoming MMORPG is based on the J.R.R Tolkien lore during the Third Age and is not to be confused with 2007’s The Lord of the Rings Online or Amazon’s previously cancelled The Lord of the Rings game in collaboration with Tencent.

At this time we don't have any details on the new MMORPG, other than knowing its developer, Amazon is collaborating with Embracer Group, and it will be released on PC and consoles. What’s more, given that there is currently no release date, it’s also probably safe to assume that it will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

However, as reported by Dexerto (via GamesIndustry.biz), we at least have new details on the MMORPG, albeit spawning from corporate spiel.

“I definitely want to put the game first to make sure it’s a great game, because as I said, we want people to play for ten years, and it’s not going to help me if someone is saying, ‘That’s a perfect representation of the book in a game.’ If you’re really into that, read the book…,” said Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann.

The VP stated that The Lord of the Rings MMORPG will not be rushed and will only release when it’s ready. “It’s done when it’s done and when it’s ready. That’s it,” he said. “I want that thing to be alive for ten years plus. We’re not going to ship something which is not ready.”

While the words of the Amazon Games VP do appear encouraging, it’s’ not outside the realms of possibility that the game will be cancelled even before it arrives. What’s more, even if it does release, the commitment of a 10-year plan will soon be thrown out of the window if the game generates poor concurrent player numbers.

So, as I often say with rumours and speculation, we should take the words of Christoph Hartmann with a pinch of salt until proven otherwise.

In related news, with the prospect of new Lord of the Rings movies on the way, the voice of Smeagol aka Gollum, Andy Serkis has said that he’s down to reprise his role.