For a long time, Amazon's foray into the world of gaming has been far from successful. However, with New World, the company seemed to have struck gold. New World is an MMORPG that takes players to an alternate reality version of the 1600s. The game is set in Aeternum Island, a fictional landmass in the Pacific Ocean. Players are tasked with colonizing the land and warding off other players who may challenge their dominion. Exploration is also an important element of gameplay, though this may lead players to discover monsters and other dangers. Fortunately, there are many weapons to wield and plenty of magic to master.
When New World launched on September 28, the game was so popular that gamers had to queue for hours before they could begin playing. However, since then, the number of daily players has decreased dramatically. Although the game is far from dead, several converging factors do seem to suggest that the game is failing to live up to its full potential.
The Rise of New World
As is the case with many games developed during the global COVID-19 pandemic, New World faced many delays. In some ways, this was beneficial to the game, because it allowed excitement and anticipation to build up. Consequently, when the game launched plenty of gamers were eager to explore Aeternum Island and begin claiming land.
On paper, New World presents itself as a very attractive game. Before the game's release, Amazon showcased plenty of beautiful screenshots demonstrating how Aeternum Island is composed of sublime landscapes and swaths of nature that have been untouched by industrialism. Players can team up to gather resources and establish a settlement, leveling up along the way.
For those who enjoy larger-scale excitement, New World also offers a 50v50 war mode. Though epic battles of this size could pose a problem for many MMOs, before the game's release, Amazon assured players that its global servers are capable of handling over 1000 players at a time.
The Fall of New World
Since New World's launch, the number of gamers logging in has been steadily decreasing. The game peaked in September when, according to SteamCharts, there were 913,634 concurrent players. However, by December 23, the game managed to only pull in 115,743 concurrent players.
One of the issues is that New World lacks some quality-of-life features and comforts that have become staples in the world of MMOs. Most notably, New World lacks mounts. New World Game Director Scot Lane has discussed the lack of mounts in the game, and although Lane states that there are no immediate plans for mounts, they may be added when the world grows large enough. He also revealed that developers did discuss the idea of having mounts in the form of donkeys, wheelbarrows, and wagons.
Another issue is that New World launched with a plethora of game-breaking bugs. One of these is the invincibility glitch, which was heavily abused during the early days of New World. This glitch can be triggered by playing in windowed mode and dragging the window around. Yet another bug caused the near-collapse of the New World economy during its early days through a gold duplication glitch.
The glitch could be triggered by trading gold with another player, then logging out quickly. When doing so, the gold is duplicated instead of being traded. Doing this enough times could produce enormous amounts of gold. This glitch caused Amazon to halt all wealth transfers in the game. Although Amazon is constantly working on fixing the bugs and glitches, the damage to the game's reputation has already been done.
To resurrect New World, Amazon will have to rectify the most game-breaking glitches and introduce some highly requested features, such as mounts. The world Amazon has crafted is incredibly beautiful, and it would be a shame to see it go to waste due to exploitable glitches and a lack of content. However, without some serious intervention and a careful look at what players are demanding, New World may become yet another gaming disappointment for Amazon.
New World is available now on PC.