Amazon recently announced it would be developing a Lord of the Rings MMO and that it would be coming to PlayStation as well (presumably PS5). This makes synergistic sense, considering how much money the company put into the recent Rings of Power. If the idea of a LotR MMO sounds familiar to you, it's because Lord of the Rings Online already exists on PC and has been keeping a small, fiercely loyal community entertained since 2007.
That doesn't seem to bother Amazon vice president Christoph Hartmann, who has made it his ambition to create "the largest MMO out there." In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, when asked whether the existence of Lord of the Rings Online could split the community, Hartmann was bullish, stating: "First of all, I have a lot of respect for them to keep it going that long. They have a, not huge, but a very dedicated fanbase."
From a technical perspective, Hartmann elaborates on the difference between the two, saying that "where we're at now, and where we will be in a couple of years, it's just worlds apart. It's a little exaggeration if I say it's going to be like black and white movies to colour, but that's the approach I want to take. It's just a completely different world."
And while Hartmann thinks that the two can coexist, he suggests that "the most likely scenario is… for people just to move over, because the other one is an old game. It's not a bad game, but the industry moves on at some point, and it's a long time from their release to ours."
It's some big talk (and there maybe even be some truth to the sentiment), but considering how well Amazon's last foray went into the MMO space, we will wait until we see some solid gameplay before deleting our trusty LotR Online toon. What do you think of Amazon's tough talk, is the world ready for a new Lord of the Rings MMO? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 15
Only fool can think about transition of loyal gamers, because if you look at those hours spend in that game, no one want to start from the scratch.
The Rings of Power had a crazy viewer drop off rate, supposedly something like 70% of people vanished by the end of the series.
This game is not going to sell. What we have here is Amazon trying to recoup losses.
Amazon has been trying to do a Lord of Rings MMO for years now… I’ll be old by the time this releases.
One must question if the franchise is the behemoth we all think it is, or whether it was just a case of the original trilogy of movies coming along at the perfect time. The Hobbit trilogy was seen as a massive disappointment, and that it shouldn't have been stretched out to three movies. And couple that with series showing massively disappointing numbers, so are we seeing the franchise's once golden touch disappear?
The writers made so many mistakes with the TV show and it was just one season. MMOs are so lore heavy I just can't see Amazon doing it justice. I hope they understand how essential it is to get the lore right if they want to hold a large enough playerbase to turn a profit.
It takes a lot to make a long time mmo player move. simply being newer alone isn't enough.
Look at everquest, that's still going, I think almost as popular as it's 'newer' sequel.
Lotro, for its age is still a well written fun time, packed full of the lore of Tolkien.
Although the audience now is relatively small. It could coexist alongside a newer one for certain, assuming it's allowed to, I don't know what the rights situation is.
I didn't dislike rings of power, but I'd rather Amazon puts their attention to their Wheel of Time adaptation. Way better first season and very underrated. Of course games to the expanse or the boys would also be nice.
Yes.....YES!!!! A thousand times YES! I would even love both versions of the game being ported to PS5.
Sure. I’ll give it a shot. I enjoyed the previous iteration of LOTRO and was greatly disappointed that Amazon’s first attempt was cancelled before revealing gameplay.
There was a time when I yearned to see the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie made into a TV show, but The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time series have promptly cured me of any such foolish notions.
I have to comment, as it's in the article images, but, Rings of Power was terrible.
@tameshiyaku agreed. I'd rather they send Jeff Bezos to space a few more times then carry on with Rings of Power.
I enjoyed the show, my friends enjoyed the show, people at work appear to have enjoyed the show, even my wife enjoyed the show - and quite a lot of them played EQ, WoW, UO and indeed LotRO (prior to its free to play iteration) back in the day - so if it was done well they may find a larger player base - especially given the lack of decent mmo’s on console.
If it were a truly open world sandbox like SWG but in the Middle-earth universe .. well, I’d be up for trying it .. chances are it won’t be though sadly.
@LifeGirl I keep hearing this about the show. I never had any interest, but what happened to episode 2 and after? Just a bad story?
I have no interest in a LoTR game because I feel there are many other MMOs that have a similar story or theme that are well done. I don't think the game will do well based just on name alone.
Tap here to load 15 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...