Amazon has cancelled the Lord of the Rings game it was developing alongside China-based Leyou Technologies.
The tech giant announced plans for the game in 2019. Sources have suggested that Tencent’s acquisition of Leyou in December led to a contract dispute between Amazon and Tencent, which ultimately caused the game’s cancellation.
A spokesperson for Amazon told Bloomberg that the company has “been unable to secure terms to proceed with this title at this time. We love the Lord of the Rings IP, and are disappointed that we won’t be bringing this game to customers.”
This latest news is another blow to Amazon Game Studios. Since its launch in 2014, the studio has yet to launch a hit.
Its first title, a pirate sim called Breakaway, was cancelled after several months. Amazon did release a free-to-play multiplayer shooter called Crucible in May 2020 but low player counts saw the game returned to beta status and then ultimately shut down in November.
The company’s next game, the MMORPG New World, was recently delayed once again to August 2021.
Amazon recently opened a new game development studio in Montreal that will focus on creating “original AAA games,” with its first title being “an online multiplayer title based on new IP.”
Source: Bloomberg
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