Amazon Games' CEO Christoph Hartman opened up a bit about his company's upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO, stating in an interview that the team is still trying to "find the hook" to differentiate it from other games from the IP.
Speaking to IGN's Kat Bailey, Amazon Games' CEO Christoph Hartman addressed the upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO that his company is currently developing, stating that it's still in early development. In fact, it seems like the studio behind the upcoming MMO set in JRR Tolkien's iconic world is still trying to figure out what will make it stand out compared to other Lord of the Rings titles.
"We're still trying to find the hook, find the idea of what it is because we don't just want to go do the same thing over," Hartmann tells IGN. He continued: "While it's tempting sometimes with an existing IP, that's not the point of doing it."
As a result, Amazon Games Orange County, the studio making the new MMO and who develops New World: Aeternum, is still working on what will help set it apart - especially as there is already a Lord of the Rings MMO on the market: The Lord of the Rings Online.
"You've got to find a fresh twist, and we're still, I think, in that period where we really want to find out what could be the hook, what could be the thing which is different to all the other games out there," Hartmann said in the interview. "So it's a little bit early."
Announced last year, Amazon Games and Embracer Group (which owns Middle-earth Enterprises) entered a partnership that sees Amazon helm the upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO. This is different than the other LotR-based MMO Amazon was working on with Chinese developer Leyou Technologies, as that was canceled back in 2021 due to a reported contract dispute between Amazon and Leyou's parent company, Tencent.
