Even as Lord of the Rings Online prepares to unleash Minas Morgul next week, Amazon Game Studios is working in the background to fashion its own Middle-earth MMORPG. Now Amazon is hiring for several positions to help build this so-far untitled game’s world, including a narrative designer, game director, and art director.
The narrative designer job description itself gives fans a glimpse of this project’s potential: “This designer will work with our design director to tell gripping tales of Middle-earth, its history, and its peoples, building world settings, lore, in-game stories, and cinematics for Amazon’s upcoming massively multiplayer The Lord of the Rings game. We aspire to tell all-new stories inside a beloved, highly-detailed IP. A successful candidate will have deep familiarity with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as a career history of creating memorable characters and story arcs in video games.”
In another job description, Amazon said, “We aspire to make a game that is ‘different at a glance’ from The Lord of the Rings games and media that came before us.”
Amazon is collaborating with China’s Leyou for the game, having put together a new team with “veteran developers who have worked on Everquest, Destiny, PlanetSide, World of Warcraft, Defiance, RIFT, and other popular MMOs.”
If it avoids the stupid loot boxes, terrible systems design and god-awful micro transactions then I’m sold.
In the meantime, however we’ve got a new expac going live tomorrow that is to call it unfinished would be an insult to all the half-finished mmo releases have had over the years such as AoC.
I probably would have left that part out.
Defiance wasn’t a bad game overall. It’s definitely running on a game engine that isn’t meant for that type of gameplay, but overall it isn’t bad at all. The biggest failure of Defiance in all honesty was the tie in with the TV show which caused a HUGE hindrance to the game and game world itself.
So Middle Earth Anime? (shudder)
So hyped!!!! Can’t wait
I’m in for any good LOTR based game. It’s not like my PC will explode if I play more that one MMO, at least it has not so far.
Next LOTR game up announced that I know of is from Daedalic Entertainment, a story centered around Gollum (not an MMO). Maybe we will see this in 2021.
Why would they do yet another LOTRO? There are so many great settings. GoT, Legend of Five Rings, Warhammer 40k.
It’s a shame because I actually kinda like LOTRO. I might just stick with LOTRO since I have spent “My Precious” time developing mains and alts there.
Probably pretty but instances based. Maybe somewhat decent sized open areas like GW2.
I doubt it’ll be as big and open as lotro.
Worst case it’s like destiny and other games with a hub but everything else is instances.
… Actually worst case, we never see it cause Amazon makes games but they don’t seem to finish them.
A lot of these were more leaks or announcements. Games particularly MMORPGs take time to develop.
Have you seen an alpha release and played through it? If not then you’re just guessing like everyone else.
What the heck happened to the America game? Survival games not the du jour so it got dropped?
They claim they’re still working on it.
And I can hang upside down from a light fitting and claim to be a Three-toed Sloth :)
If they merge it with this LOTR game it might be fun. Persistent sandboxpark with real-mmo player counts (*in the thousands) and a Tolkien setting would be something new and interesting.
Someone poke me once Amazon has actually made a game, any game.