Less than one month before launch, New World is delayed again
Less than one month before launch, New World is delayed again
Amazon's MMO will be out at the end of September so developers can continue to fix bugs and improve stability.
Less than a month before the release of the fantasy MMO New World, it was delayed again. Amazon announced today that it has decided to take a little more time to tighten things up and delay the rollout until the end of September, based on the feedback received during the last closed beta.
“We want the introduction of New World to be a seamless and fun experience for all players, and that means persevering and making some improvements to what you encounter during the Closed Beta,” said the New World team. “Therefore, we will take a few more weeks to fix the flaws, improve stability, and polish the game. New World's new global launch date is September 28, 2021.
"This was not an easy decision to make. We learn that this isn't the first time we've changed our launch date in search of qualifications and it can be disappointing to wait a little longer. We're bringing you the maximum quality gameplay during the launch. Thank you for your help and feedback."
The New World was originally intended to launch in May 2020, but has been delayed several times, until now in February, when the 31st August date was defined. The Covid-19 outbreak took its toll, but the response to the game was also an issue: In July 2020, Amazon pushed New World to spring 2021, suggesting alpha testers were unhappy with the lack of deep game content.
“We want to ensure that the most dedicated players have plenty of mid- and late-game experience as they enter Aeternum,” said studio director Rich Lawrence. "We want our players to feel completely immersed in the game and to know that our studio means quality and enduring gameplay you can trust - which means additional time to get where we want it before it's fully released."
Closed beta testing also struggled to impress. People are clearly interested in what it has to offer - the test at one point surpassed 200,000 simultaneous players on Steam - but our online editor Fraser Brown described it as a "weird MMO" with "cookie-cutter quests and a shabby narrative" (though he himself enjoyed the Survival game aspects). Sarah James, guide master and MMO fan, said in a separate preview that she felt "incredibly hard and frustrating" after just a few hours of gameplay.