Amazon has confirmed today that a brand new Lord of the Rings game is in the early stages of production. The game, an open world massively-multiplayer online adventure, will feature characters and locations familiar to fans of JRR Tolkien's world.

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The game will be multi-platform, and it's far from the only big game that Amazon is working on. It joins other Amazon gaming ventures on a sizeable slate that includes the next Tomb Raider game, which the company is developing in collaboration with Crystal Dynamics.

Amazon has already been delving into Tolkien's lore, with TV spectacular The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power dropping on Prime Video last year. However, Rings of Power was set in the Second Age of Middle Earth and took its inspiration from Tolkien's appendices.

This upcoming game, which we don't yet have a title for, is set much later than The Rings of Power, taking place instead around the same time as the iconic stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Recent games set in Middle Earth include the Shadow of Mordor series, while The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and Return to Moria are among a slate of upcoming releases. This new announcement is particularly exciting for fans, though.

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Through its subsidiary, Middle-Earth Enterprises, Amazon announced today that an agreement has been reached for Amazon Games to develop and publish a new MMO game based on Tolkien's universe.

Although the game is in very the very early stages of production, we know that Amazon Games Orange County is leading its development. This is the company behind the hit game New World.

Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games, has said that "bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings has long been an aspiration for our team, and we’re honored and grateful that Middle-earth Enterprises is entrusting us with this iconic world.

"We’re also pleased to be expanding our relationship with Embracer Group following our Tomb Raider deal last year, as they’ve proven to be excellent collaborators."

Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode (the operative group that contains Middle-earth Enterprises), said: "We’re taking every care to deliver an MMO which will do justice to the expansive Middle-earth universe and delight players around the world.”

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