Amazon Can’t Quit Cashing Tolkiens
Will Tolkien's original vision get lost in the details, CGI, and cash cow maneuvers?Amazon is now working on a massively multiplayer online (MMO) video game adaptation of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, which will be unrelated to the Prime TV show Rings of Power. Todd Spangler at Variety reports,
Last year, Amazon Games cut a deal with Embracer-owned studio Crystal Dynamics for a new multiplatform title in the “Tomb Raider” series . Hartmann praised the Embracer team as “excellent collaborators.”
“The world of Middle-earth continues to prove an endlessly fertile ground for creators, and Amazon Games has a passion for building immersive, compelling worlds and publishing games for a global audience,” said Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode, Embracer’s division that houses Middle-earth Enterprises. “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.”
-Todd Spangler, Amazon Developing Lord of the Rings Massively Multiplayer Online Game – Variety
Rings of Power garnered mixed reviews upon its release (to put it kindly). Its audience rating was abysmal, and complaints about its deviation from the canon, flat dialogue, and unlikable characters put the whole project into question. Clearly, however, Amazon is dedicated to milking the franchise from every angle possible. Mind Matters writer Peter Biles criticized corporate attempts to monetize Tolkien’s fantasy world in this article here. The Lord of the Rings, with remakes under contract at Warner Bros. and future seasons of Rings slated at Prime, along with this new video game development, remains remarkably popular. The question is whether Tolkien’s original vision will get lost in the details, CGI, and cash cow maneuvers.
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