Interview: Amazon Games' CEO on How the Reborn Lord of the Rings MMO Will Learn from New World
The last four years have been a long road for Christoph Hartmann. Since becoming Amazon Games CEO in late 2018, he has been witness to cancellations, layoffs, and rumors of internal clashes. In late 2021, the publisher was forced to cancel its Lord of the Rings MMO due to rights issues with Tencent.
Fast-forward to 2023, and Amazon Games mostly seems to be on the upswing. Lost Ark enjoyed a successful launch in 2022, a new Tomb Raider game is in development, and Amazon Games has struck publishing deals with numerous developers based primarily in Asia. Even Lord of the Rings is back from the dead, with Amazon announcing today that it has struck a deal with Embracer Group to fully reboot the nascent MMO in what Hartmann claims is the publisher's most ambitious project to date.
“This is a completely new game because the license is much, much wider... Obviously, there's nothing changing because we all know the world is set, the characters are set. It's really the freedom we have in terms of gameplay features where now anything is possible and the limitation is where it's technically possible or not," Hartmann says. "Before, it was like, 'It's a good idea but we can't do it because there's something else going on.' Now, the mission we are on, and the mission Embracer fully supports, Middle-earth Enterprises, fully supports, is to make the biggest best MMO out there based on Lord of the Rings. That's our ambition."
It’s the latest peak in what has been a rollercoaster ride over the past decade. The studio was founded back in 2014, its initial hires including Kim Swift (Portal 2) and Clint Hocking (Far Cry 2). Its first three games were Breakaway, Crucible, and New World, two of which were canceled before or shortly after launch.
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