The free-to-play Lord of the Rings MMO in development by Athlon Games and Amazon is reportedly slated for a 2022 release date. Athlon Games' parent company Leyou was just purchased by Tencent, and that company divulged the planned launch window for the Lord of the Rings MMO in a recent financial filing.
The financial filing suggests the upcoming title is due out "from Q4 2021 to Q1 2023," according to The Gamer. That does mean there's a chance the Lord of the Rings MMO could arrive later next year or early 2023. Still, analysts pinpoint somewhere in the middle as the most likely period for the game to launch.
The expected launch window is one of the only details anyone outside of Athlon and Amazon knows about the free-to-play Lord of the Rings MMO at this point. It is supposedly set before the events of any J.R.R. Tolkien book, which the well-known movies and existing video games are based on. It will see players "exploring lands, people, and creatures never seen before." The project is also said to be using a "different at a glance" art style.
Athlon first announced this new Lord of the Rings video game in 2018 after the company signed a new deal with Middle Earth Productions to work on the project. At the time of the announcement, the company did not say who it was partnering with in order to publish the game outside of China. It wasn't until 2019 that Amazon went public as the official partner.
This new MMO has been the cause of some confusion in the gaming world, because there is already a Massive Multiplayer Online RPG out there based on Tolkien's works. Lord of the Rings Online was released back in 2007. Turbine first developed that game and then handed it off to Standing Stone games. It has had several publishers along the way, starting with Midway Games, followed by Warner Bros, and currently Daybreak Game Studio. Lord of The Rings Online's story began shortly after Frodo and his group first left the Shire, but mostly follows brand-new characters and storylines.
There is some trepidation about what this new Lord of the Rings game will offer in terms of quality. Neither Amazon nor Athlon games have a proven track record for video game development. It's also going up against a Lord of the Rings competitor with an established player base and future planned graphical upgrades. At this point, only time will tell.
A Lord of the Rings MMO is currently in development, potentially for 2022.
Source: The Gamer