Amazon’s historical fantasy MMO New World just celebrated its fourth anniversary, but a recent post on the game’s official website reveals that the game’s newest update will also be its last.
“After four years of steady content updates and a major new console release, we’ve reached a point where it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game with new content updates,” the post reads. “The recently launched Season 10 and Nighthaven update will serve as the final content release for New World on PC and consoles. It is only after much consideration that we’ve reached this decision. To thank you, the New World community, for your support over the years, we have made the Nighthaven release available to you for free. To ensure all New World players can experience this content, we also made Rise of the Angry Earth free for all PC players.”
Amazon says that more details will be available in the coming months, and has confirmed that the game’s servers will remain operational through 2026. Amazon has also promised to give players at least six months’ notice before “any changes that impact your ability to play New World: Aeternum” are implemented. There are currently no plans to delist it from online storefronts or remove it from the PlayStation Plus catalog, and a FAQ included in the announcement states that Amazon does not plan to sunset the game “at this time.” Bug fixes and server maintenance will continue as usual, as will world bosses, bonus weeks, and most seasonal events, although Amazon says the game will no longer host holiday events.
New World was a hit for Amazon when it launched in September 2021, at one point boasting more than 900,000 concurrent players on Steam. But that player count has since reduced to a trickle, and New World‘s fate comes amid layoffs that could affect up to 30,000 employees across various corporate divisions, including gaming. In June, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy indicated that layoffs were on the way as the company moves to cut costs by implementing AI.
“It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” Jassy wrote in a memo to employees.