Amazon Games President explains why the company canceled the "Lord of the Rings" online game after years of development.

In April 2021, Amazon confirmed that this free host/PC game jointly developed by Athlon Games (a US subsidiary of Leyou Technology) was cut off. At that time, according to Bloomberg, the cancellation of the work was due to the controversy between Amazon and Chinese technology giant Tencent , which acquired Leyou Technology in December 2020.
In an interview with GameSpot, Amazon Games President Christoph Hartmann explained that the Lord of the Rings authorized manufacturer Middle-earth Enterprises chose to exercise the terms of its contract, and if one of the partners is acquired, they have the right to terminate the cooperation.
Hartmann said after this incident, things became "very complicated". While Amazon explores ways to continue working with Tencent, it eventually gave up after negotiations failed.
"The problem is, of course, maybe we can do something with Tencent, but I think we are too big as a company to really be partners and let them have the authorization while we develop the game. So we decided to still not cooperate for OK. Then we tried to figure out both sides, but I think it's been dragging it too long"