After the layoff of 14,000 Amazon employees, an affected developer gives a hint about the current status of the “Lord of the Rings” MMO, which does not deliver good news for waiting fans.
What has the developer hinted at? The LinkedIn post of a former senior developer at Amazon Games, who was affected by the layoffs at the company, not only shows the love she has for her projects and former colleagues but also gives a clear hint about the current status of the “Lord of the Rings” MMORPG.
This morning, I was part of the layoffs at Amazon Games, along with my incredibly talented colleagues from New World and our little gem ‘Lord of the Rings’ (you would have loved it).
– Ashleigh Amrine, Senior Gameplay Engineer and former Tech Lead at Amazon Games
And in this message is the statement that fans might not want to hear – you “would have” loved it. This suggests that waiting players will likely never have the chance to fall in love with the planned MMO based on the Lord of the Rings.
If we trust the statement of the former developer, it will therefore not be released.
Amazon becomes the final boss for MMORPG fans
How reliable is the source? Since the upload of the post on the developer’s LinkedIn page, the message has been removed. However, a screenshot was captured and published by MMO Intel on X. The reason for the message being deleted is not yet explained.
No official statement from Amazon Games regarding the suspected end of the MMO has yet been made.
Since it is about a person who has contributed to the development of the game, her statement should not be ignored directly.
How does the community react to this news? Players and fans of the genre who trust the source react dejectedly to the realization that the “Lord of the Rings” MMO will never be released. Some try to cope with the disappointment through humor, while others are simply frustrated by the decisions made by Amazon:
- “Of course they [canceled it], lol. I swear we can’t have nice things anymore,” writes Chilled Freshh on X.
- “One ring to rule them? More like a layoff wave to cancel them all,” writes Alex107 on X.
- “I hate these decisions from Amazon. Unfortunately, they don’t need any of it. So they just don’t care. But they had the chance to steer the MMO genre back in the right direction,” writes Steven the Heathen on X.
Besides the “Lord of the Rings” MMO, another MMORPG must also suffer from Amazon’s layoffs. The MMO New World will not receive any further content after the latest season and last update. This announcement led to the game sinking into total chaos on Steam: New World sinks into chaos on Steam: Wrath and erase the last signs of a living MMORPG
