New World will get no further updates amid massive layoffs at Amazon

Today, Amazon’s gaming division announced massive cuts and layoffs, originally reported by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. This will reportedly have a significant impact on the massively multiplayer game New World, as Amazon steps back from its plans to break into the MMO space. It’s not clear exactly how many layoffs are hitting the video game division, but the larger layoffs at Amazon will “eliminate more than 14,000 corporate jobs,” so it is likely not a small number. Layoffs are expected to hit the hardest at the company’s Irvine and San Diego offices, as well as its central publishing division.

Amazon’s gaming division hit with significant layoffs. New World will get no further updates

Working in the video game industry remains a volatile career choice, as this is not the first time this year that significant layoffs have occurred. In July, Microsoft laid off thousands of employees, with a significant portion of those job losses affecting the gaming division. There were also several notable game cancellations, such as Perfect Dark and Rare’s Everwild. Schreier posted the breaking news earlier today on BlueSky, highlighting the move away from MMOs like New World, which seems like a particularly shocking move given the game’s recent resurgence in player count.

Thanks to SteamDB, we can get a look at the long-term player count of the Amazon-developed MMO, New World: Aeternum. Amazon has had success with another MMO, Lost Ark, but notably did not develop it and only handled publishing in Western markets. New World had the highest player count at launch, nearly reaching one million, but over the next few years, that player count steadily dropped. There have been some spikes in player count, and it seems like the game is currently in one of those upswings, which is why some fans were confused about the sudden news.

In response to Schreier’s post on BlueSky, players shared their confusion, with one user writing: “Didn’t New World just start to see some success in terms of player count?” Another user replied to that comment with further details, explaining: “…this past seasonal update was the most hype and HOPE I’ve seen for the game in a long time…” It seems that if the game had more time, it might have grown in popularity, but it will unfortunately not get the chance to try.

Alongside today’s news, the New World team posted an update on their blog, explaining: “The recently launched Season 10 and Nighthaven update will serve as the final content release for New World…” They also explain that they intend to keep servers operational through 2026, but from then on, we will have to wait to see how long the game remains playable.

New World

September 28, 2021

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