John Smedley, a veteran developer in the MMORPG genre, is currently working on a new game for Amazon. It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but we already have some information.
He is the former CEO of Sony Online Entertainment and later Daybreak Games. Smedley became known through the MMORPG Everquest from 1999, a veteran of the genre that laid the foundation for many other games.
Everquest is still playable online and even via Steam. It received a total of 25 expansions. A sequel called Everquest Next was planned but canceled.
Discarded Lord of the Rings MMORPG, now he’s working on something new
Smedley actually worked on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMORPG, which was scrapped. The developers could not reach an agreement with the owners of the rights to Lord of the Rings. The negotiations dragged on, so Amazon ended the deal. So, the MMORPG you’ve been dreaming of for 2 years has been cancelled.
Smedley has been part of Amazon since 2017. He is now the head of the development team in San Diego. He doesn’t reveal much about his new game – only that it exists.
“I can’t say what I’m working on. But if I want to do a 500-person test tomorrow, I can start it from my desk,” he tells GameSpot. So it could start at any time.
What kind of game is this? We know from previous job postings that this is a sci-fi MMO and possibly even an MMORPG. A senior narrative designer position was advertised. This tells us a few things about the game:
It’s also intended to be a long-lived game, with a lifespan of more than 10 years, Smedley revealed in an interview with GameSpot.
What do you say about the topic? Are you sad that the Lord of the Rings MMORPG was scrapped by Amazon? Are you looking forward to the new game by John Smedley? Do you think it will be a proper MMORPG? Or are you also doubting a release? Write it to us in the comments here on MeinMMO!
The MMORPG Tower of Fantasy was recently released:
Tower of Fantasy: The Best Builds – How to build a strong team with your available characters