Leyou And Amazon's F2P Lord Of The Rings MMO Has Been Cancelled

The free-to-play Lord of the Rings MMO game that was announced by Leyou Technologies in 2018 and said to be co-developed and co-published by Amazon Games in 2019 has been cancelled.

Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports that the game was cancelled after Tencent acquired Leyou late last year. That resulted in a "dispute" between Tencent and Amazon that could not be resolved, with an Amazon spokesperson saying that "we have been unable to secure terms to proceed with this title at this time."

The Amazon employees who were working on the game will be re-assigned to other projects. "We love the Lord of the Rings IP, and are disappointed that we won’t be bringing this game to customers," the spokesperson said.

Normally, an American game company not being able to work with Tencent would lead people to put the blame on the shoulders of the Chinese behemoth. However, given Amazon's abysmal record at producing games -- Breakaway's and Crucible's cancellations, along with New World's delays -- they haven't earned the benefit of the doubt. In addition to New World, they're going to be the publisher for Smilegate's Lost Ark, but it's hard to feel optimistic about either venture.