Amazon's MMO New World Gets Big Delay Just Before Launch

Amazon Game Studios' New World is shaping up to be an ambitious project for a division that has struggled thus far, but we'll have to wait a bit longer before playing the MMO. Despite already suffering an earlier delay and being planned for release in just a month, the development team has chosen to bump the game into Spring 2021.

Writing in a blog post on the game's official website, studio director Rich Lawrence explained that after play-testers had time with the game over the last few months, they wanted there to be more middle-game and end-game content in order to keep them engaged. As a result, the studio decided it would need significantly more development time to make this happen, but it isn't all bad news if you were hoping to play the game in August.

Lawrence added that those who signed up for the beta, pre-ordered the game, or played it in alpha testing will have a special opportunity to play a limited-time version on its originally-scheduled August 25 release date. This will contain the content that was initially going to comprise the game at launch.

Amazon Game Studios has struggled to produce quality or successful games since its inception, with multiple projects canceled or poorly received. The first-person shooter Crucible, which we gave a 5/10 in our Crucible review, was met with such poor reception that Amazon opted to un-release it and return to closed beta in order to solicit additional feedback.

New World looks like it could be a more impressive game, with enormous battles against other players for control of forts alongside traditional MMO fare. When it does ultimately launch, it will be exclusively on PC.