Depending on whether you talk to Amazon or anyone else, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was either a huge success or massive flop. Regardless, Amazon is by no means done with the J.R.R. Tolkien-invented universe of hobbits, elves and a dusty wizard who likes hanging out with really short people. Get your second breakfast ready, because Amazon is making a huge video game around the franchise.
In collaboration with Middle-earth Enterprises, Amazon Games is creating a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game set in Middle-earth, and featuring stories from both The Hobbit and the original trilogy of books. This does, in theory, sound pretty awesome, but I’m not going to get my hopes up, mostly because of Rings of Power.
Amazon claimed it was its most watched show ever, but then we found out that less than half of viewers never finished it, and Amazon didn’t release numbers about how long people watched it. According to Nielsen Data, the show clocked in at 15th place for most-watched Amazon original in 2022.
Why does this matter? One: This doesn’t install a lot of confidence that Amazon knows what it’s doing. Two: The company seemingly lies about and manipulates viewing numbers. Will they claim this is the most played game ever just because people saw an advertisement for it? You just don’t know.
Rich Lawrence, director of the Amazon Games Orange County studio, is heading up the project. He’s saying all the right things: that it needs to be “respectful and authentic,” and that he wants people that play the game to think “‘This was crafted by a bunch of people who lived in this world just like I do in my head. They get it.'”
This is the same studio that brought you New World, a huge game that again, depending on who you talk to, is either a massive success or just another ho hum MMORPG. The game started with one million players and is now down to about 16,495, per SteamCharts.
Amazon said it won’t give up on New World and will continue to support it as it creates the new game. Also, the new game is being built on top of New World’s Azoth Engine, per a press release. It’s going to use the fact that New World “enabled huge, multiplayer battles at a scale” and allowed “dozens of players to seamlessly interact within the same instance.”
That sounds cool, but I’ll believe it when I see it.