“The Other MMORPG” - the history of the demise of the Amazon/Leyou online game

 

“The Other MMORPG” - the history of the demise of the Amazon/Leyou online game

A few years ago news broke that there would be a new MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) set in Middle-earth and players of Standing Stone’s Games “The Lord of the Rings Online” were concerned.

Over the last day the news has been hitting various gaming sites that the Amazon Lord of the Rings MMO has been cancelled but there has been a lot of confusion and sometimes misinformation or misunderstanding about what it was all about. I am hoping this article will clear up some of this.

Before we begin, it needs to be made clear the difference between Amazon’s involvement with this other MMO, the Amazon TV series and where the various licenses for things are coming from.

Tolkien’s legacy, his books, are looked after by his family under the Tolkien Estate. In 1969 Tolkien sold the film rights, merchandising, theatre and other rights to United Artists. In 1976 United Artists sold most of these rights to the Saul Zaentz Company which later became Tolkien Enterprises and now is known as Middle-earth Enterprises. All games come through Middle-earth Enterprises – LOTRO, Free League’s The One Ring RPG, Fantasy Flight’s Lord of the Rings Living Card Game.

The Amazon TV series deal came through the Tolkien Estate who still owned the television adaption rights. The Amazon TV series cannot however cross over into film territory, that is adapt the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, so instead the TV series will explore the Second Age of Middle-earth and use material found only in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books. Amazon cannot use anything found only in the Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales. Nor can anything from the Middle-earth Enterprise’s license either. So to be clear, the Amazon TV series has nothing to do with the new MMO that was being made.

Back to the other MMO…

In September 2018 Leyou Technologies (Athlon Games) announced they were working with a (unnamed) partner and Middle-earth Enterprises to create an online game set in Middle-earth. Their first announcement came via a Press release:

Athlon Games press release – 4 September 2018
http://www.athlongames.com/athlon-games-partners-with-middle-earth-enterprises/ 

A key quote from there include:

“Athlon Games is working with a partner developer to create an online game set in the world of Middle-earth™ at a time long before the events of The Lord of the Rings, exploring lands, people and creatures never seen before by fans of the Tolkien universe.”

So it was to be set before LOTR but not necessarily the Second Age, like the Amazon TV series that was around the same time revealing snippets about it’s own setting.

Things went quiet for quite some time after this initial announcement. Then on 10 July 2019 it was revealed who the unnamed partner was – Amazon through Amazon Game Studios. Press releases from both Athlon Games and Amazon were put on their respective websites.

Athlon Press release – 10 July 2019
http://www.athlongames.com/amazon-game-studios-and-leyou-to-co-develop-game-based-on-the-lord-of-the-rings-world/  

Amazon Press release – 10 July 2019
https://www.amazongames.com/en-gb/news/articles/amazon-games-to-co-develop-game-lotr

A few details about the game from these press releases include 

• “massively multiplayer online game for PC and consoles set in Middle-earth”
• “free-to-play”
• “Set in the world of Middle-earth portrayed in The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy, the game will give fans around the globe a new, immersive game experience for epic exploration of the vast world of Tolkien”
• “In addition to the game development collaboration, Amazon Studios is separately developing a new Amazon Original TV series based on The Lord of the Rings for Prime Video unrelated to the game.”
• “Amazon Game Studios and Leyou will jointly develop the game for PC and consoles, and Amazon Game Studios will market and publish the title globally with the exception of China, which will be managed by Leyou.”

A few thoughts – this was to be a MMORPG possibly like LOTRO but for both PC and console. It was going to be free-to-play. The setting (before LOTR) has been dropped from this second press release by Leyou and there is nothing extra in Amazon’s press release. They are keen to stress this game is NOT linked to the upcoming Amazon TV series.

After a flurry of reports across the various gaming websites, it all falls silent again. Another year goes by and the world faces a global pandemic.

On 23 November 2020 the Gamespot website posts an article about Tencent acquiring Leyou and details revealed about the Leyou/Amazon LOTR MMO.

Gamespot – “A Heap Of New Details On Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings MMO Have Been Revealed” – 23 November 2020
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-heap-of-new-details-on-amazons-lord-of-the-rings-mmo-have-been-revealed/1100-6484816/

Details included linked licensing agreements which are now not accessible. In fact the Leyou website is gone, for reasons below.

Some interesting points from the Gamespot website article:

• “Leyou agreeing to pay over $8 million simply to secure the license for the Middle-earth game.”
• An expected schedule for the PC version of: “draft of complete game lore and narrative” (11 January 2021), playable prototype (June 2021), open beta (either in September 2022 or January 2023).
• “PS4 and Xbox One launch both saying the aim is to have the content complete and playable within six months of the PC open beta”
• “full launch within twelve months of the beta”

After the Tencent takeover, the Leyou website disappears but the Athlon Games website remains. We settle into another quiet period with no news.

I have looked but could not find anything about the Lord of the Rings game on the Tencent website, located here:
https://www.tencent.com/en-us/index.html 

On Saturday 17 April 2021 Bloomsberg broke the news that the MMO has been cancelled due to differences between Amazon and Tencent. Since then other websites have been reporting the news, including IGN, The Verge, Kotaku.

Now, if you read all the above websites, it looks like the game is fully cancelled. But one thing is not clear. Amazon were making this game for license-holder Leyou (now Tencent). We know Leyou paid more than $8 million to have this game license, so would Tencent just leave this paid-for license or will they look elsewhere to make a game using the license? I’m not sure it’s too soon to count out another MMO set within Middle-earth being produced though losing Amazon definitely is a massive blow to its chances.

How do I feel about that? I’m ok either way. LOTRO is an awesome game and I am quite happy spending my time in Middle-earth right now through Standing Stones Game’s version. If we see another MMO in the future I happily will take a look at it.