OPINION: Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO Canceling Isn't Surprising, But It Does Make Me Wonder What

System · April 2021

OPINION: Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO Canceling Isn't Surprising, But It Does Make Me Wonder What Could Have Been | MMORPG.com

Amazon and Leyou canceling their upcoming Lord of the Rings MMORPG is unsurprising, but it is a bit depressing. However, it does make Bradford wonder what could have been, from both a pure MMO standpoint and as a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan.

Read the full story here

ILLISET · April 2021

It's because some people don't take history seriously enough.

KaliGold · April 2021

Sorry to hear about this. I think the full focus for them now is obviously New World. Based on all the changes they announced so far, its really looking good.

I think it WILL be ready for closed beta come July 20 and I for one am really looking forward to it.

laserit · April 2021

I’m not sure what to call it, but China sure does not resemble communism in the traditional sense.

Rungar · April 2021

ILLISET said:

It's because some people don't take history seriously enough.

or simply dont know anything about it. You get what you deserve i suppose.

Jamar870 · April 2021

Well like laserit said. They may all say they are communist in the begining, but as they go along they slowly devolve to dictatorships or something very similar.

Chaserz · April 2021

I couldn't agree with you more. LOTRO is getting long of the tooth especially after well the Trilogy is finished in the game. The rest seems just add-ons after the main story concluded. It would have been nice to see a newly rendered Middle Earth based on the 2nd Age.

Oh well. Maybe someone will pick up where it may have left off some day.

Kyleran · April 2021

Aurelt said:

ILLISET said:

It's because some people don't take history seriously enough.

true. and the thing that USA companies sell out to china for few million dollars is insane. Recently Universal music group sold 10% to china. And then they will complain "ooohh how china owns half of american companies? what happened?" sellouts.

It's worse than you know, Tencent is 31% owned by Naspers, a South African media and publishing firm.

Iselin · April 2021

laserit said:

I’m not sure what to call it, but China sure does not resemble communism in the traditional sense.

Just an old fashioned oligarchy... like most places.

Anyway...

I wouldn't declare this LOTR game dead yet. Amazon is out. That's for sure, but it wasn't theirs to begin with.

Everyone assumes that since Amazon is BIG they had the rights to develop it but in fact they didn't - it's Athlon/Leyou that acquired the rights to make a LOTR game from Middle Earth Enterprises. Amazon jumped on board as their partner a year later.

Continuing with a different partner is still a strong possibility.

Scorchien · April 2021

Iselin said:

laserit said:

I’m not sure what to call it, but China sure does not resemble communism in the traditional sense.

Just an old fashioned oligarchy... like most places.

Anyway...

I wouldn't declare this LOTR game dead yet. Amazon is out. That's for sure, but it wasn't theirs to begin with.

Everyone assumes that since Amazon is BIG they had the rights to develop it but in fact they didn't - it's Athlon/Leyou that acquired the rights to make a LOTR game from Middle Earth Enterprises. Amazon jumped on board as their partner a year later.

Continuing with a different partner is still a strong possibility.

they are owned by Tencent since Dec 20....and NO its not dead ..

Amazons overeaching greed has bit them in the ass again ..

Tencent as the largest pub in the world now .. Does not need Amazon at all

Quizzical · April 2021

Aurelt said:

I mean how dumb you have to be to trust china's communist tencent? that's what you get when you lie to yourself that communist will not do something wrong. I just don't understand why western companies want kiss china's as ss so much? just leave them alone and don't ever communicate with them. I don't understand. If I was ceo of gaming company I would never never allow my games to go to china. never. unless China becomes democratic country. I hate communism.

For some decades, you could have made the argument that companies ought to be wary of doing business with a government that has absolutely no qualms about large-scale theft. But the China of 10 or 20 years ago wasn't nearly as evil as today's regime. The Uighur genocide, the end of democracy in Hong Kong, and the COVID-19 pandemic are all recent things perpetrated by Xi Jinping. One can dispute to what degree the pandemic is his fault, but the other two are indisputably his choice.

China's government is not meaningfully Communist in the economic sense, and has not been since Mao died in the 1970s. The other elites in the country saw very well that Communism doesn't work, and left an estimated 50 million dead in the largest slaughter in human history. That's why they moved away from it as an economic system, and that is what allowed China's economy to grow tremendously since then.

Quizzical · April 2021

I can tell you what could have been: a buggy mess that everyone hated. It's not like Amazon was going to cater heavily to your personal preferences with their game and get everything right.

Theocritus · April 2021

What could have been? Why because Amazon has alot of money so it must be good? THis is exactly why I don't want megacorporations getting into the gaming industry.

Remali · April 2021

I dont know about the topic but you stole my avatar!

Albatroes · April 2021

IT makes me wonder if they'll ever actually release anything. Knights in white will defend New World which has already been delayed 3-4 times already and probably get delayed again in July, but try and keep your capes clean.

Wizardry · April 2021

They started all this seeing the mobile market as a nice easy cash cow.Failed by delivering utter crap games.

So FF and they are failing miserably,announce layoffs and cancel several games.Somehow they magically open up a new MTL studio...lol.So just like WASTING a boatload of money on the former 2K lead to be their vice president and hiring expensive mouths like Smedley they aim for PAST glory instead of intelligent decision making.

This new venture is based off hiring the Ubi guys from Rainbow Six.Do they think they can just now magically whip together a shooter and make money?

To me Amazon game studios looks like a joke ,no idea what they are doing but just doing it because they see so many getting rich off of gaming.Their initial thoughts remind me a LOT of Trion,big dreams,movies,toys,mobile,make several games,integrate them into Twitch our new big purchase.

Amazon is just a business looking to make business moves,they are NOT a good game studio/s.

GreenSage39 · April 2021

I saw this and I was just like "yep the world is still stupid full of stupid and lazy people. It's not ready for something like that."

Not sure why but that is literally what I thought haha.

#WhenYouSurpriseYourself

Scot · April 2021

Quizzical said:

Aurelt said:

I mean how dumb you have to be to trust china's communist tencent? that's what you get when you lie to yourself that communist will not do something wrong. I just don't understand why western companies want kiss china's as ss so much? just leave them alone and don't ever communicate with them. I don't understand. If I was ceo of gaming company I would never never allow my games to go to china. never. unless China becomes democratic country. I hate communism.

For some decades, you could have made the argument that companies ought to be wary of doing business with a government that has absolutely no qualms about large-scale theft. But the China of 10 or 20 years ago wasn't nearly as evil as today's regime. The Uighur genocide, the end of democracy in Hong Kong, and the COVID-19 pandemic are all recent things perpetrated by Xi Jinping. One can dispute to what degree the pandemic is his fault, but the other two are indisputably his choice.

China's government is not meaningfully Communist in the economic sense, and has not been since Mao died in the 1970s. The other elites in the country saw very well that Communism doesn't work, and left an estimated 50 million dead in the largest slaughter in human history. That's why they moved away from it as an economic system, and that is what allowed China's economy to grow tremendously since then.

The thing is communism for both China and Russia was that it made them easier to predict, they worked by a set of principles. Now they do not and I see no principles governing them now apart from self interest and geopolitics. The West has ideals and a capitalist framework, though it does not always follow those ideals or behave that capitalist at times. Recently Russia and China have both got worse and you have to ask is this as far as they will go? To me they will keep pushing the boundaries of what is internationally acceptable until someone pushes back.

Also it is useful to try to remember that the Russians feel betrayed by what happened to the USSR, they feel mother Russia deserves some revenge and you only have to look at Georgia and the Ukraine to see that in action. Meanwhile China sees itself as taken for granted, the superpower that is expected to do nothing on the world stage. With that in mind you can see why I think this situation will just get worse.

GreenSage39 · April 2021

Scot said:

Quizzical said:

Aurelt said:

I mean how dumb you have to be to trust china's communist tencent? that's what you get when you lie to yourself that communist will not do something wrong. I just don't understand why western companies want kiss china's as ss so much? just leave them alone and don't ever communicate with them. I don't understand. If I was ceo of gaming company I would never never allow my games to go to china. never. unless China becomes democratic country. I hate communism.

For some decades, you could have made the argument that companies ought to be wary of doing business with a government that has absolutely no qualms about large-scale theft. But the China of 10 or 20 years ago wasn't nearly as evil as today's regime. The Uighur genocide, the end of democracy in Hong Kong, and the COVID-19 pandemic are all recent things perpetrated by Xi Jinping. One can dispute to what degree the pandemic is his fault, but the other two are indisputably his choice.

China's government is not meaningfully Communist in the economic sense, and has not been since Mao died in the 1970s. The other elites in the country saw very well that Communism doesn't work, and left an estimated 50 million dead in the largest slaughter in human history. That's why they moved away from it as an economic system, and that is what allowed China's economy to grow tremendously since then.

The thing is communism for both China and Russia was that it made them easier to predict, they worked by a set of principles. Now they do not and I see no principles governing them now apart from self interest and geopolitics. The West has ideals and a capitalist framework, though it does not always follow those ideals or behave that capitalist at times. Recently Russia and China have both got worse and you have to ask is this as far as they will go? To me they will keep pushing the boundaries of what is internationally acceptable until someone pushes back.

Also it is useful to try to remember that the Russians feel betrayed by what happened to the USSR, they feel mother Russia deserves some revenge and you only have to look at Georgia and the Ukraine to see that in action. Meanwhile China sees itself as taken for granted, the superpower that is expected to do nothing on the world stage. With that in mind you can see why I think this situation will just get worse.

You know why though? The feels/power of money/currency itself. It's what has damned both Russia and China. Is the USA damned from it? No. The USA uses its currency as a control/debt scheme. The feels and power from the USA isn't from the money/currency itself its what power is derived after creating the debt with said currency.

It's like how we got landlords and property managers who are inherently evil people in the USA who every year raise rent. The government started to watch and take note and created a Bad Landlord Listing of all landlords who raised rent during covid.

See, because we don't have the same lust/power for money like Russia/China does, we can have morally grey areas and even good areas. (I mean evil individuals have a lust and greed and envy but our policies aren't setup that way. Evil will always exist and should always be killed when it pops up.)

But China and Russia, just need more and more. That's a raging beast with one eye, probably a missing leg, chained up against a wall waiting to die or at the very least go out with one last fight.

Aurelt · April 2021

If this game is not over yet and if Tencent going to make it I WILL NOT PLAY IT. i dont care how good it is. if its from china - im not playing it. path of exile - not playing it because china owns GGG. league of legends - not playing it because china owns it. dont get me wrong I love chinese people. I just hate politics of china. Hong Kong wants freedom and china wont allow it. Im not with that. f china

BruceYee · April 2021

Tencent needs to buy Blizzard already and give us WoW 2.

It is common knowledge that AGS has already spent over a billion dollars in their 'attempt' to make games but have failed to release anything that can be monetarily profitable.

Look at the Tencent business model and how they ONLY buy game companies with growth potential. Why would Tencent worth 715 billion USD who has an entire collective of game studios(many of them capable of creating a LOTR MMO) remain in a partnership with Amazon who in recent times is the greatest disaster/failure game company around? They gain nothing by staying partnered with them and in fact run the risk of having AGS screw things up and drag them down in the process. IMO they made the decision any smart person would make and cut ties with those AGS losers asap.

I also wouldn't doubt it if Tencent bought Leyou because they had the LOTR license. Could be that Tolkien trust or Saul Zentz or whoever feel like they dodged a bullet because AGS is no longer involved.

Hariken · April 2021

Its like all of a sudden in all U.S. Companies the Chinese money is so needed now. Look what they do to how movies are made now. They make all these changes to please the China market.

Kyleran · April 2021

Aurelt said:

If this game is not over yet and if Tencent going to make it I WILL NOT PLAY IT. i dont care how good it is. if its from china - im not playing it. path of exile - not playing it because china owns GGG. league of legends - not playing it because china owns it. dont get me wrong I love chinese people. I just hate politics of china. Hong Kong wants freedom and china wont allow it. Im not with that. f china

Typed this out on your Chinese made cell phone or computer no doubt, how's that Chinese made TV working these days.

Quizzical · April 2021

Scot said:

Quizzical said:

Aurelt said:

I mean how dumb you have to be to trust china's communist tencent? that's what you get when you lie to yourself that communist will not do something wrong. I just don't understand why western companies want kiss china's as ss so much? just leave them alone and don't ever communicate with them. I don't understand. If I was ceo of gaming company I would never never allow my games to go to china. never. unless China becomes democratic country. I hate communism.

For some decades, you could have made the argument that companies ought to be wary of doing business with a government that has absolutely no qualms about large-scale theft. But the China of 10 or 20 years ago wasn't nearly as evil as today's regime. The Uighur genocide, the end of democracy in Hong Kong, and the COVID-19 pandemic are all recent things perpetrated by Xi Jinping. One can dispute to what degree the pandemic is his fault, but the other two are indisputably his choice.

China's government is not meaningfully Communist in the economic sense, and has not been since Mao died in the 1970s. The other elites in the country saw very well that Communism doesn't work, and left an estimated 50 million dead in the largest slaughter in human history. That's why they moved away from it as an economic system, and that is what allowed China's economy to grow tremendously since then.

The thing is communism for both China and Russia was that it made them easier to predict, they worked by a set of principles. Now they do not and I see no principles governing them now apart from self interest and geopolitics. The West has ideals and a capitalist framework, though it does not always follow those ideals or behave that capitalist at times. Recently Russia and China have both got worse and you have to ask is this as far as they will go? To me they will keep pushing the boundaries of what is internationally acceptable until someone pushes back.

Also it is useful to try to remember that the Russians feel betrayed by what happened to the USSR, they feel mother Russia deserves some revenge and you only have to look at Georgia and the Ukraine to see that in action. Meanwhile China sees itself as taken for granted, the superpower that is expected to do nothing on the world stage. With that in mind you can see why I think this situation will just get worse.

Russia really hasn't gotten worse recently, unless you're willing to count their 2008 invasion of Georgia as "recent". Vladimir Putin has been in charge of Russia for more than 20 years now, and at this point, he is what he is and probably isn't going to change much. He's a run-of-the-mill evil dictator, and hardly a good guy, but not an unusually bad ruler, either. The mischief he causes is generally small scale enough to not be worth fighting a war over, and Putin's Russia is nothing like the evil empire that was the Soviet Union. If Putin were dictator of Malawi or Oman or Cambodia, you'd have no idea who he was unless you follow foreign news far more closely than most. Russia probably isn't going to change that much until Putin dies, retires, is overthrown, or whatever, and his successor could easily be much better or much worse.

China, on the other hand, has gotten much worse in recent years, and it's because of Xi Jinping. Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao were all capable leaders who did a lot of good for their country, even if they also did quite a bit of evil in the world. (Literally lifting hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty is a lot of good, no matter who does it.) Xi Jinping is not just a run-of-the-mill evil dictator. Unlike his recent predecessors, and also unlike Putin, Xi Jinping is far more evil than most dictators. He doesn't just harass a relative handful of people who annoy him. He has institutionalized it to harass nearly everyone that he can.

Quizzical · April 2021

Scot said:

Also it is useful to try to remember that the Russians feel betrayed by what happened to the USSR, they feel mother Russia deserves some revenge and you only have to look at Georgia and the Ukraine to see that in action. Meanwhile China sees itself as taken for granted, the superpower that is expected to do nothing on the world stage. With that in mind you can see why I think this situation will just get worse.

I think it's important to recognize that Russia isn't just invading random places. In both Georgia and Ukraine, they invaded the portions of the country that are mostly ethnically Russian, but went no further than that. Russia basically claims that they are the rightful government of all Russians, even those who live outside of their country. And there several other countries in eastern Europe that have portions that are heavily Russian. Those countries are scared of Russia, and rightfully so. But Russia is not going out and trying to annex random countries all over the world, or even to install puppet governments the way the Soviet Union did.

Nilden · April 2021

8 Mental Habits That Derail You From Success Inccom

Right off the tracks...

Then some crazy old guy goes and says hey how many characters smoked pipes in Lord of The Rings. You know to get back on topic of some greedy company squandering this amazing IP with some cash shop crap.

What Was Gandalf Smoking in The Lord of the Rings Weed

What Was Gandalf Smoking in The Lord of the Rings Weed

Gaming is screwed. Probably why you guys are talking about countries and communism...

Howdy, Stranger!

OPINION: Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO Canceling Isn't Surprising, But It Does Make Me Wonder What

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

OPINION: Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO Canceling Isn't Surprising, But It Does Make Me Wonder What

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV