Here is a recent trend in video game discourse: now, whenever a game is delayed, the immediate response from a large segment of the audience is, ‘Well – better to be delayed than another Cyberpunk’. The CD Projekt Red made such a mess that it inadvertently made life easier for other developers!
So it is with New World, the much-delayed MMO from Amazon Games Studios. It has been postponed again and is now due out in August.
Your development team posted the video below, explaining the delay and some of the features they will be working on until launch:
And seriously, look at the comments below the video. I scrolled down knowing that there would be a mention of Cyberpunk, and it’s right there in the first comment.
The updates to Bezos’ beasts are working with a focus on the content of the middle and end of the game – which is basically the entire game, in fact – and are based on feedback from several closed beta tests. In the video, game director Scot Lane talks about the new 5-player dungeons, a final 20 versus 20 game mode called Outpost Rush, as well as new zones, fishing and a redesign of the crafting system. You can also read about these changes on the New World blog.
Amazon Games Studios has received a lot of bad publicity recently, with several reports of malfunctions explaining the failure and cancellation of other megacorp games, including MOBA Breakaway and hero shooter Crucible. Amazon says it won’t give up, but the New World is the only game announced.
Despite other failures and frequent delays in the New World, I don’t think this game is losing control. There is an appetite for MMOs on this scale and almost no one else is making new games like this. I also read positive comments from people who played during a beta or another. I can imagine the New World being launched with modest success and having enough momentum to keep updating, at least.