Before there were video games, there were tabletop games. And tabletop games are still a going concern, from classics such as chess or Clue to more recent hits like Arkham Horror or Twilight Imperium. There's a tradition of tabletop games being translated into video game format (and a more recent tradition of video games being translated to board games), but even so, there are a number of games out there which have yet to make the leap. This particular list suggests titles which are deserving of full adaptations into standalone games, not merely duplications for Tabletop Simulator.
From GameSpot: "For years, Amazon Games was developing a Lord of the Rings MMO alongside Chinese game developer Leyou and Middle-earth Enterprises. There was a good amount of hype around the game, but it was abruptly canceled in 2021, leaving fans scratching their heads and wondering how it all fell apart.
Amazon Games president Christoph Hartmann told GameSpot that its Lord of the Rings MMO disintegrated when Leyou was sold to Tencent. Things got "very complicated," and Amazon Games elected to simply cut ties and move on.
"We had a deal with a Hong Kong-based company, Leyou; I think it would have been great to work with them. But they later got sold to Tencent and it just got very complicated," Hartmann said."
Everyone worries about MS or Sony. TenCent is the real worry. I just can’t trust a company that has the communist government behind it.
KnowTechie writes: The recent cancellation of yet another Amazon Game Studios title has me wondering if the ecommerce giant is cut out for video games.
This is what happens when you think you can just solve and conquer some things simply by throwing money at it. Same with Stadia.
I'm glad it was canceled,
Lord of the Rings game would of been fulled with chinese censorship.
Blizzard is doing bad because how much china has on blizzard.
Still looking forward to New World game, that Amazon has.
The game was cancelled due to negotiations not working out, if they threw more money at it they might still have been making it lol, that said i found it strange how they wanted to do a LOTR MMO when they're also doing New World.
I don't see why that's strange. Easier to make two games that are in the same genre (re-use assets where possible, same engine with tweaks) and, as 2 MMOs, imagine the monetization that can go into these games.
They'd essentially be competing with themselves in a market that's high risk, the last two successful games in the genre are TESO/FF and both those games are 7+ years old now.
Next up they are probably gonna close down their Luna streaming service.
If they truly wanna get into gaming-buy a publisher and release good hardware to go along with it while continuing to invest in new studios.
Takes a long time to establish yourself as a great game studio it doesn't happen over night unless you have a super popular game or a game that is a flavor of the month. Why net all the stars at once when you should focus one at a time.
They could just do what Microsoft is doing, buy a AAA studio and let them make something. Not like they don't have the money.
Or its not like jeff bezos couldn't flat out buy Sony and just let them do their thing....
Maybe they should focus on making their company a better place to work, rather than attempt to make games which ..obviously they have no idea how to do.
A Lord of the Rings MMO production schedule reveals the PC Open Beta to be currently planned for early 2023, with consoles coming later.
I'm very excited for the new MMO but it will be quite a wait for that LOTR goodness.
I am not. The current LOTRO feels like a reskin of DDO and was never anything worth playing for any long period of time.
Lotro was made by Standing Stone Games and Turbine in 2007. In 2006 Standing Stone Games and Turbine released DDO. It literally was a reskin.
Hmmm... Tencent and Amazon have their mits all over this.
I love lotr, but I don't have much hope for this.
