Rank 1: The Lord of the Rings MMORPG by Amazon Games
Setting: Fantasy | Developer: Amazon Games | Platform: TBA | Status: Early in development
The license for “The Lord of the Rings” is a real heavyweight. Whoever can publish a high-quality game that captures the atmosphere and fascination of Middle-earth will have succeeded. An older The Lord of the Rings Online still benefits from its age – and has even been able to celebrate a kind of third spring lately.
The current Lord of the Rings Online unfortunately shows its age:
Due to the popularity of the universe and the age of lotro, it is no surprise that Amazon Games has snagged the rights to develop a new MMORPG for The Lord of the Rings. However, the pressure will be enormous. The studio’s previous record has been disappointing.
While New World launched successfully, it has struggled with many (self-inflicted) issues since day one and remains far behind the expectations of many genre fans. As a publisher of MMORPGs like Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, Amazon Games has also received a lot of criticism. We have summarized that for you here: Amazon has been trying to be a big player in games for 10 years, now The Lord of the Rings must save it.
Yet despite Amazon Games not having achieved any big, sustainable success to date, and despite years of criticism for their role as a developer and publisher, the “Lord of the Rings” MMORPG ranks first in our survey. This impressively shows how many players are eager for a new, ambitious MMORPG that takes us to Middle-earth.
However, we won’t find out too quickly whether the hopes will be fulfilled. The last sign of life from the project in August 2024 made it clear that the team was still in a very early conceptual phase: There is a sign of life from the new MMORPG for The Lord of the Rings by Amazon Games
Warhammer Online has many fans, went offline much too early:
However, in February 2025, reports surfaced that NetEase allegedly halted the funding for the game. It was also reported that the people responsible at Jackalytic were to conduct talks with potential new publishers. There has been no official confirmation to date.
Not much else is known about the project. Apparently, the new online role-playing game is to be developed for PC and consoles. Some statements from Emmert also suggest that the game will have a strong PvE focus, and there won’t be a traditional tab-targeting combat system.
A possible release date? Not foreseeable! Currently, it is even unclear whether the project still has funding. You can find out more here: A new MMO for Warhammer sounds too good to be true – Here’s what we know
