It’s been some time since Amazon announced its Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings video games, and it sounds like fans will have to wait a while longer for a reveal.
Amazon announced it had signed a deal with Crystal Dynamics to develop and publish the next major Tomb Raider game back in December 2022. We’ve heard nothing in the year-and-a-half since, although Crystal Dynamics was forced to reassure fans that it was unaffected by devastating cuts at embattled parent company Embracer.
Meanwhile, Amazon announced it had signed a deal with Middle-earth rights owner Embracer to develop an as-yet-untitled The Lord of the Rings MMO back in May 2023. Again, we’ve heard nothing since, but we do know this game is set in Middle-earth and features the stories of The Hobbit and more.
Speaking to Variety, Amazon Games chief Christoph Hartmann said a reveal for either game is not imminent, but is not long away. “It’s not going to be tomorrow, but it’s not too far away,” Hartmann said, before insisting Amazon Games is now “getting into a much more regular cadence of shipping games.”
“That’s all I’m allowed to tell you right now,” Hartmann added. “It’s all about quality. You don’t want to just be rushed out. That doesn’t work. It has to be triple-A quality, because the bar is so high.”
Amazon will be keen to capitalize on other Tomb Raider and The Lord of the Rings projects it has in the works by lining up the TV shows with the video games. Prime Video has confirmed a Tomb Raider live-action series with Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge in place as writer and executive producer, although it has yet to say when it will launch. Meanwhile, Rings of Power Season 2 kicks off on Amazon Prime in August, with more seasons confirmed to be in the works.
In the interview, Hartmann pointed to Microsoft’s recent success with the Prime Video Fallout TV show, which boosted interest in the Fallout games. “And so you can see a world where Amazon would do well to release a game simultaneously available to play on PC, console, mobile, as well as launching a TV series or an animation on its Prime Video service,” Hartmann explained.
However, fans shouldn’t necessarily consider the Tomb Raider TV show canon with the video games. While that’s worked out well for the Fallout TV show, which is set after all the Fallout video games, Hartmann suggested Amazon’s plan for Tomb Raider is closer to Sony’s with its hugely successful Marvel’s Spider-Man games, which are separate to the Spider-Man movies.
“You see it with Tomb Raider, where we’re gonna have a Tomb Raider game coming and they’re doing a show,” Hartmann said. “And some people say, ‘Oh, will they be linked together?’ And I give them the example, look at Spider-Man. There’s amazing, amazing games. There’s great animated content, there’s great live-action, and everyone seems to be very happy with that. So it does not need to be always that everything is mingled together, but it’s really one brand, which really just shows for me why transmedia nowadays is so important, and how games is such a vital part.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.