Amazon Game Studios Lord of the Rings MMORPG

[Happygiraffe]

I can't post links yet but did anyone else see this? Looks like Amazon (who are also making a new high budget LOTR show) are making a new MMO. Seems like an interesting choice. MMO's haven't been in fashion for a while.

[Honest Tiefling]

It's not even up on their Amazon Studios website, so that's...Interesting. It's not even their only entry. They even have a crafting game, because why not?

So...Anyone else remember when everyone thought the Xbox wasn't ever going to be a real thing?

[False God]

Aren't they also making "New World"?

Honestly I'm super interested in that and not so much about another Tolkein-esque fantasy setting (he said on a forum based on TTRPGs many of which are primarily based on Tolkein-esque tropes).

But shouldn't they at least release one MMO before they start building another? This sounds like far too many campaigns and GMs who get a great idea, get half way through and then hop off to another great idea they'll never finish.

[Psyren]

MMO's haven't been in fashion for a while.

...What? New ones are getting made constantly - most in Asia but still. And the big 5 (WoW, ESO, FF14, GW2, RS) collectively have millions of active players.

[False God]

...What? New ones are getting made constantly - most in Asia but still. And the big 5 (WoW, ESO, FF14, GW2, RS) collectively have millions of active players.

Yeah but the "big ones" are really slowly dying off. It's just hard to kill something with millions of people involved, but they're certainly not growing. And the "new ones" are often flash-in-the-pan or never make it out of Asia. And there hasn't been a new "big hit" on the MMO market in years.

It's very fair to say MMOs are not in style at the moment, mostly replaced by MOBAs.

[Psyren]

Yeah but the "big ones" are really slowly dying off. It's just hard to kill something with millions of people involved, but they're certainly not growing. And the "new ones" are often flash-in-the-pan or never make it out of Asia. And there hasn't been a new "big hit" on the MMO market in years.

It's very fair to say MMOs are not in style at the moment, mostly replaced by MOBAs.

Even assuming this is totally true, it's a bit of a leap from there to "there's no room for another one even if it's well-made, particularly one with a recognizable IP" though. I won't deny it's a hell of a gamble, but Amazon certainly has money to burn on the attempt.

[False God]

Even assuming this is totally true, it's a bit of a leap from there to "there's no room for another one even if it's well-made, particularly one with a recognizable IP" though. I won't deny it's a hell of a gamble, but Amazon certainly has money to burn on the attempt.

Well, I didn't make that leap so....

I'd just like to see them finish New World first.

[Happygiraffe]

I won't deny it's a hell of a gamble, but Amazon certainly has money to burn on the attempt.

Yeah this was what I meant to say - just think it's a bit of a gamble. It's not like MMOs are old fashioned just that they're out of fashion right now in the west. A solid AAA with a big license could bring them back with a vengeance. I'll certainly take a look!

[Rodin]

So...Anyone else remember when everyone thought the Xbox wasn't ever going to be a real thing?

...Not really?

Microsoft had been in gaming for years by the time the XBox hit. They were releasing their own games, were designing gaming peripherals, and of course were well established in operating systems. The only reason to think they wouldn't go into consoles was anti-trust concerns and a misguided fear that the console market couldn't sustain another large developer. I don't recall any thinking that they were unsuited for it outside of the usual "implacable force for evil" memes.

[Man_Over_Game]

For some reason, Amazon is making a big push for nerd culture.

Amazon's making a Wheel of Time TV series, too. I think they realize that nerd culture is a big cash cow.

It's very fair to say MMOs are not in style at the moment, mostly replaced by MOBAs.

Wizards of the Coast noticed the same thing, which is part of the reason that their DnD editions have been focused on simpler, shorter skirmishes for combat, and more streamlined rules. People don't have hours upon hours to make an investment anymore, since everyone's having to work more. Fit as much fun as you can in 3 hours and that's about it for the week, and that's a lot more workable with a MOBA than an MMO.

On top of that, MMO's have been following a lot of the same formulas for a long time, using the same technologies to play the same games. It's expensive to track things like collision detection when you have several thousand players interacting with one another, but doing it for 6 people in a small arena is fairly easy. MMO's feel cheap, and it'd take quite a jump for them to have that crisp feeling of a modern game.

Still, I'm interested to see what plans Amazon has. They're usually pretty savvy when it comes to money (so much so that I generally hate supporting them, they'll do anything for the dollar), but I'm still interested to see what kind of game they'd come up with, and what their expectation of "fun" is.

[False God]

Wizards of the Coast noticed the same thing, which is part of the reason that their DnD editions have been focused on simpler, shorter skirmishes for combat, and more streamlined rules. People don't have hours upon hours to make an investment anymore, since everyone's having to work more. Fit as much fun as you can in 3 hours and that's about it for the week, and that's a lot more workable with a MOBA than an MMO.

Yeah, gone are my days of pulling all-nighter sessions and 48-hour gaming weekends.

On top of that, MMO's have been following a lot of the same formulas for a long time, using the same technologies to play the same games. It's expensive to track things like collision detection when you have several thousand players interacting with one another, but doing it for 6 people in a small arena is fairly easy. MMO's feel cheap, and it'd take quite a jump for them to have that crisp feeling of a modern game.

Agreed, even when I go out and look for new MMOs, I'm often disappointed that they're still basically "Those grindy Korean ones with the loli and the hot elves." and those "Hey this is basically LOTR but we're calling it something else!" I appreciate a straight-forward game, but a little spice would be nice.

Still, I'm interested to see what plans Amazon has. They're usually pretty savvy when it comes to money (so much so that I generally hate supporting them, they'll do anything for the dollar), but I'm still interested to see what kind of game they'd come up with, and what their expectation of "fun" is.

Hopefully they can add something new to the pot, but another LOTR MMO really doesn't sound like it.

[Man_Over_Game]

Agreed, even when I go out and look for new MMOs, I'm often disappointed that they're still basically "Those grindy Korean ones with the loli and the hot elves." and those "Hey this is basically LOTR but we're calling it something else!" I appreciate a straight-forward game, but a little spice would be nice.

I had a lot of hope for ones like Wildstar, ones that used more collision-y based effects. I played RIFT for a long while, and one of the most loved abilities in the MMO was this weak wave ability that healed or dealt damage in a line in front of you, because line-based mechanics are innovative (at least, in the MMO scene it is).

I don't think it'd be hard to convert something like Smite into an MMO, where everything is a skill shot, but the game is basically 2d in terms of collision so you don't have to track a 3rd dimension (which means you're now calculating collisions for lasers hitting squares rather than lasers hitting cubes). Games like Wildstar have done this, but they haven't designed their system around the concept. Rather, the "action" element feels tacked on, a necessity for very specific abilities and doesn't mesh well with normal gameplay mechanics (like MOVING. Nothing ticks me off more than demanding me to make a skillshot that stops me from moving while I aim it).

On that note, if anyone knows of a decent MMO that DOES do this well (that is, the action element is ingrained in the core mechanics and feels fluid), please let me know. I'd be very interested.

[Inarius]

Something to note, Amazon isn't actually developing the MMO. Rather they're going to assist Athlon games in making the free to play mmo they announced earlier this year. Part of me thinks it might be licensing related, as it stands Amazon is the second company that actually has licensed Lord of the Rings directly from the Tolkien Estate and the Amazon license seems much broader than the one licensed to Middle Earth enterprises (which is what every movie, game, and other product has been based off of until now).

[Happygiraffe]

It occurs to me we might all be assuming MMO means something like WoW but a company like Amazon might be more thinking mobile phone mmo's. Been a bit much of that recently :)

[JadedDM]

I'm confused. Isn't there already a LotR MMO? Isn't it called Lord of the Rings Online? Or was that canceled or something?

[Man_Over_Game]

Did some looking into with Athlon, the publishing label behind the game. Not much info on them, as they're only about a year old.

However, the company that owns Athlon, Leyou, also holds Digital Extremes (Unreal Tournament, Bioshock), Splash Damage (Wolfenstein, Doom, Gears of War), and made some big donations towards Certain Affinity (Halo, Doom, Call of Duty).

So the company that owns the company that is making the LOTR game is also a huge backer behind Triple-A First Person Shooters, as well as working on multiplayer connectivity/interactions. Not sure what that'll mean for the LOTR MMO, though. If I had to put 2-and-2 together, it might mean that they'd have a lot of experience with real collision detection stuff and fast-paced gameplay, which is a major plus.


It definitely looks like they make a lot of safe bets with where they put their investments, though (be honest, were you ever surprised at the success of any of the games listed above?), so it's likely that they're making a push for this because they're impressed by something, or providing something special that they're confident will turn a profit.

Or they're just riding that 20-year-old LOTR hype train.

[Rodin]

From the sounds of that, they're banking on the marketability of Frodo with a shotgun, Aragorn with an AK-47, and Legolas with a sniper rifle.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm confused. Isn't there already a LotR MMO? Isn't it called Lord of the Rings Online? Or was that canceled or something?

It's still around; I play a couple times a week. Good game, pretty good community.

[False God]

From the sounds of that, they're banking on the marketability of Frodo with a shotgun, Aragorn with an AK-47, and Legolas with a sniper rifle.

I dunno, a gritty sci-fi retelling of LOTR sounds kinda awesome.

[D-naras]

Did some looking into with Athlon, the publishing label behind the game. Not much info on them, as they're only about a year old.

However, the company that owns Athlon, Leyou, also holds Digital Extremes (Unreal Tournament, Bioshock), Splash Damage (Wolfenstein, Doom, Gears of War), and made some big donations towards Certain Affinity (Halo, Doom, Call of Duty).

So the company that owns the company that is making the LOTR game is also a huge backer behind Triple-A First Person Shooters, as well as working on multiplayer connectivity/interactions. Not sure what that'll mean for the LOTR MMO, though. If I had to put 2-and-2 together, it might mean that they'd have a lot of experience with real collision detection stuff and fast-paced gameplay, which is a major plus.


It definitely looks like they make a lot of safe bets with where they put their investments, though (be honest, were you ever surprised at the success of any of the games listed above?), so it's likely that they're making a push for this because they're impressed by something, or providing something special that they're confident will turn a profit.

Or they're just riding that 20-year-old LOTR hype train.

Digital Extremes' major title now is Warframe which is a great, free-to-play 3rd person online PVE shooter with an excellent economy system so that's encouraging.