Amazon's MMO New World Hits 200,000 Concurrent Players On Steam

Amazon's upcoming MMO New World is off to a good start, it seems, as the game's beta has attracted more than 200,000 concurrent players on Steam to make it one of the service's most-played titles overall.

The latest public player data from Steam shows that the New World closed beta passed 200,000 players this weekend, putting it well ahead of games like Rust, Team Fortress 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Warframe, and Path of Exile on Valve's PC platform.

New World's early success on Steam is notable in part because Amazon has struggled with games in recent years. Amazon's free-to-play shooter Crucible stalled and was eventually canceled, while the company was making a Lord of the Rings MMO until a supposed contract dispute ended things. Amazon also had a game in the works called Breakaway that was canceled.

A report from Bloomberg documented an apparent pattern of mismanagement at Amazon's video game division. Despite Amazon's struggles so far in the video game space, Jeff Bezos' replacement as CEO, Andy Jassy, has pledged a commitment to gaming going forward.

"Some businesses take off in the first year, and others take many years," Jassy said. "Though we haven't consistently succeeded yet in [Amazon Game Studios], I believe we will if we hang in there."

In addition to game development, Amazon is involved in the world of video games through Twitch, which it acquired in 2014 for $1 billion.

For more on New World, check out the video above, which shows off the first 18 minutes of the MMO. The game launches in full on August 31.