A little under two months are left before Amazon's new MMO New World becomes available, and Amazon has put no shortage of effort into advertising for the game. The July beta is opening up in a few weeks, but Amazon might be poorly poised to get playtesters for its game. For all the company's success, Amazon is not experienced in the gaming industry and has a lot to prove, yet New World isn't Amazon's first attempt to prove itself to the gaming market -- Crucible was.
Amazon's third person hero shooter Crucible has struggled to impress players and critics alike, and its future remains uncertain. If New World is going to draw players in for Amazon Games' current and future products, it has big shoes to fill.
Crucible's Trials and Tribulations
Video games are such an active, lucrative industry that it's no surprise that Amazon would attempt to tap into the new market. After all, the company is hardly short on resources to pursue game development. Those unfamiliar with Crucible might look to battle royale hero shooters like Apex Legends for a comparison. Twelve players compete for survival, while a thirteenth person called the Game Master is responsible for streaming the game through Twitch integration, a unique quirk of the game made possible by Amazon's ownership of the streaming platform.
The choice of game style is unsurprising when considering some of the top shooters of recent history, such as Apex Legends and Valorant. Clearly, demand for hero shooters is present, but it seems that Amazon missed the mark with its attempt to contribute to the genre. The game currently sits at a disheartening 56 on Metacritic, as well as a User Score of only 4.3 out of 10. Critics say the game suffers from flaws in its matchmaking system, poor communication system, and an inability to establish a unique personality for the game.
Crucible's disappointing reception resulted in the surprising and practically unheard-of choice to un-release the game after its launch in May. Amazon has pulled Crucible back into beta rather than rolling out updates for the game over its lifetime. Players will keep their progress made so far, and developers will begin to play the game alongside them. Amazon seems intent to fix the game, but if its game is in such desperate need of fixing, it's a poor omen for New World.
New World's Fate
An MMO inspired by the Age of Exploration, New World is a very different title from Crucible. Players will use weapons and technology of the area to explore a mysterious island and battle the wild and arcane forces there. The beta has yet to begin but players are already very skeptical about the quality of the game. Criticisms of all kinds has been levied at the game: some feel the graphics look outdated while others expect no excitement from the gameplay they've seen. Overall, New World does not look like it'll get a warm reception.
Of course, trailers are a very limited way to judge a game; lots of titles have subverted expectations in the industry's history. Gameplay is the best way to no for sure whether a title is worth players' times or not. The problem is that players have already had the chance to try Amazon Games' work, and they have been found wanting. Skepticism is hard to shake off once a company has been dismissed as a source of lackluster products. Players can justify being skeptical about New World if Amazon's last game was so flawed that it had to return to beta.
New World needs to draw in players, not only to improve the game during the beta, but to give Amazon Games the inspiration to stay in the market. Amazon has another MMO in the works based on The Lord of the Rings, which would surely draw in fans of the series. However, if Amazon's first MMO fails, another MMO would almost certainly be dead on arrival. New World bears Crucible's scars. If it can't surmount them to claim a strong fan base, New World could collapse like Crucible and pass the scars on to Amazon's games to come.
New World releases August 25th for PC.