Amazon Game Studios is hiring to develop its “Lord of the Rings” online game, with many of the jobs in Irvine.
“We’ve started hiring for key positions … including art director, game director, and narrative designer,” said Rich Lawrence, who heads the OC office for the gaming studio unit of tech giant Amazon.
He didn’t give a number of total jobs; but said via email hiring would include “all game development disciplines.”
Some design will also take place in San Diego and Seattle, he said, but Irvine has the lead.
Development “is based in our Orange County studio, which is located in Irvine.”
Tolkien
The game doesn’t have a release date; it derives from the works of author J.R.R. Tolkien and is slated for PCs and consoles.
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) said in July it will produce the free-to-play massively multiplayer online (MMO) game with Leyou Technology Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong and Middle-earth Enterprises; the latter is a trading name of Berkeley-based Saul Zaentz Co., which owns rights to some of Tolkien’s works.
“Set in the world of Middle-earth portrayed in The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy, the game will give fans around the globe a new, immersive game experience for epic exploration of the vast world of Tolkien,” Amazon said this summer. Amazon Game Studios will market and publish the title globally except in China, which will be managed by Leyou.
Game Tech
“The collaboration brings together Amazon’s game technology and talented MMO developers, and Leyou’s expertise in designing free-to-play games and operating live-service games,” the company said.
The local studio is also working on New World, an “open world” MMO that concluded a successful alpha test this year, Lawrence added.
Open world refers to a gaming virtual world in which players can explore and approach objectives with considerable freedom.
Amazon’s film division, Amazon Studios, is separately developing an adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings,” exploring new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring,” Lawrence said.
“The game and show take place in the same literary world of Tolkien, but the two are not [narratively] connected,” he said.
