There are few literary locations as expansive and thrilling as Middle-earth, with its mysterious forests and majestic mountain peaks.
From the Shire to Mordor, this striking landscape teems with adventure and possibilities, and is the home of some of the most beloved characters in fantasy literature.
It’s therefore no wonder Amazon Prime are looking to create a Lord of the Rings TV series, just two decades after Peter Jackson first brought Tolkien’s magic to the silver screen.
In an interesting development, Amazon have also decided to develop a vast online role-playing game based within the epic universe of Lord of the Rings.
As reported by Business Insider, this immersive Word of Warcraft style game can be played on both consoles and PCs, and is the product of a new partnership between Amazon Game Studios, Middle-earth Enterprises and Leyou Technologies.
This as of yet untitled game – which is reportedly unrelated to the upcoming TV series – will allow players to explore and interact with Middle-earth in a completely new way.
As reported by The Verge, Athlon announced in late 2018 that this game would be set ‘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’.
This of course isn’t the only MMO game to draw from Tolkien’s boundless imagination, with The Lord of the Rings Online having been around since 2007. However, there are notable differences between these two games.
The Lord of the Rings Online is set within the same time period as the classic trilogy, allowing players to check out what was happening in other parts of Middle-earth while Frodo was busily trying to get the One Ring to Mordor.
This new Amazon MMO will be set long before these events took place, giving fantasy fans a whole new perspective on the lore and mythology which has long helped build this iconic world.
As reported by Games Radar, Amazon Game Studios’ Christoph Hartmann has made the following statement:
We’re committed to bringing customers games of the highest quality, both with our own original IP as well as beloved cultural pillars like The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien’s Middle-earth is one of the richest fictional worlds in history, and it gives our team of experienced MMO developers – from the same studio developing New World – tremendous opportunity to play and create.
We have a strong leadership team in place to helm this new project, and we’re actively growing our team to help build this incredible experience.
This Lord of the Rings game marks the second MMO game announced by Amazon in 2019 so far, with a 17th century based game entitled New World still in development.
As of yet, no release date has been given for The Lord of the Rings game.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.