Amazon’s upcoming MMO primarily based on The Lord of the Rings seems to have been canceled following mass layoffs throughout a number of departments, significantly inside the firm’s inner gaming crew.
Amazon simply reduce 1000’s of employees, all because of the shift to AI that put many individuals out of labor. One of many victims of this motion is New World. New World might be positioned in upkeep mode, will now not obtain future updates, and is scheduled to shut in 2026.
In 2023, Amazon introduced an MMO primarily based on The Lord of the Rings. The mission was additionally affected by the layoffs, as revealed by Ashleigh Amrine, a former senior gameplay engineer at Amazon Video games, who stated on LinkedIn that the event crew behind the Lord of the Rings video games was additionally affected.
What occurred to Amazon video games?
Amazon pivoted to gaming in 2012 and based Amazon Video games. Sadly, it did not produce many hits, its greatest hit being New World, however even that fizzled out, struggling to offer content material that may win its viewers again and dropping it to extra established MMOs.
Amazon Luna stays the corporate’s premier sport streaming service. How lengthy it will final is anybody’s guess, particularly contemplating the destiny of Google Stadia. However Microsoft’s full dedication to cloud gaming with its Xbox model could encourage Amazon to carry again a bit extra.
The demise of the Lord of the Rings MMO is unhappy, however the lack of so many livelihoods is much more tragic. The shift to AI is being pushed purely as a inexperienced transfer relatively than a want to ship higher merchandise, and it stays to be seen whether or not this automated shift will repay. In any case, we at DualShockers hope that those that misplaced their jobs get again on their toes quickly.