Amazon is developing a huge multiplayer Lord of the Rings game in conjunction with Athlon Games, it has been announced.
The game is described as "a free-to-play massively multiplayer online" set in Middle-earth and is soon coming to PCs and consoles. It will be based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original books as opposed to Peter Jackson's movie trilogy.
"Tolkien's Middle-earth is one of the richest fictional worlds in history, and it gives our team of experienced MMO developers - from the same studio developing New World - tremendous opportunity to play and create," Amazon Game Studios VP Christoph Hartmann said in a statement.
Check out this deleted scene from The Two Towers:The new game will also be entirely unrelated to Lord of the Rings Online, the MMO that debuted in 2007.
It is also believed that it will be set in the Second Age, preceding the events which took place in The Hobbit and the LOTR.
With their ambitious live-action Lord of the Rings TV series underway, it was only a matter of time before the gaming division at Amazon started working on a new MMO.
Reportedly costing a staggering $1 billion, the series will begin shooting in just a few months, with a studio in Scotland having been selected as the main set.
"Lord of the Rings producers are hoping to start filming at the new studio from about August to November," a TV industry source told the Daily Record. "A lot of arrangements are already in place. All that remains now is for it to be up and running in time - so the clock is ticking. It's anticipated production will return for another three months from next March (2020). There could be more after that. It's a massive contract and a gigantic boost for the studio and for Scotland."
Amazon is yet to announce a name or release date for the game.
