The new Aeternum version of New World cannot be considered a breakthrough success for Amazon Games, according to MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz. This was a disappointment due to the release timing.
As early as July 2024, I feared it could be a major mistake by Amazon Games to release Throne and Liberty and New World Aeternum within a few weeks. After all, both MMORPGs are being released for PC and console at the same time. And this is shortly after the launch of WoW: The War Within.
In the meantime, Lost Ark, also published by Amazon Games, was gearing up for perhaps the most important updates in months – with fresh starter servers that will only be available for a limited time, and a new endgame level.
In addition, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Silent Hill 2, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the last four major, well-known releases of the year are also in October.
The launch trailer of New World Aeternum:
Collision with Purpose
While Throne and Liberty exudes the allure of the new and promises an – at least from today’s perspective – unusual focus on the massively, the fundamental player experience of New World has been known for more than three years. The numerous adjustments of the Aeternum version do not change that.
I therefore had early concerns that New World Aeternum could get crushed among all the October releases. In an interview with Roxanne Sabo (Community Lead for Lost Ark at Amazon Games), I brought up the topic. Her response:
Each of our live games is diverse and differs in many ways, including playstyles, business models, and settings. Lost Ark offers players a unique adventure and challenge, just like New World Aeternum and Throne and Liberty. We believe that each game offers a different experience and will find its own audience, with room for players who engage with multiple.
But is that true? In my personal case, the math hasn’t worked out. I am a big MMORPG fan and equally excited about the revamped Aeternum, the new patch of Lost Ark, and the new Throne and Liberty.
As a father of two kids and with a full-time job, however, I cannot pursue all these interests. I had to prioritize in October, and Throne and Liberty usually won out (and Dragon Age: The Veilguard).
My newly created character for New World Aeternum, on the other hand, is only level 33. There has been no time for Lost Ark in the past weeks. Many other MMORPG fans have likely experienced something similar. Too bad, marmalade – that’s what my 3-year-old son would say.
There are indeed good reasons to play New World Aeternum:
How “successful” is New World Aeternum?
Due to the lack of concrete numbers from Amazon Games, this cannot be stated with one hundred percent accuracy. However, there are various indicators:
- On October 20, 2024, New World Aeternum reached 61,437 concurrent players on Steam. This is the highest value since October 2023, but still slightly below the peak at the launch of the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion (77,642) and significantly behind the all-time high from the launch in September 2021 (913,634).
- The daily peak is now slightly over 30,000 concurrent players (via steamdb.info). The trend is downward.
- It is unclear how many players have joined via consoles. However, one thing is clear: Amazon Games had to significantly increase the number of cross-play servers across all regions, but each region only needs one pure PlayStation and Xbox server.
- Throne and Liberty has been a hot topic throughout October, which we can clearly see from Google Trends and the view counts of our articles. The launch of New World Aeternum was just a mild breeze in comparison. Within the console communities, we observed something like a mini hype. In the PC camp, however, complaints were more common.
- While Amazon Games celebrates 4.5 million players in the first month for Throne and Liberty, a post on amazongames.com regarding the launch of New World Aeternum states:
We are very pleased and encouraged by the enthusiastic response from players and critics alike, and it was exciting to welcome even more adventurers to the supernatural island of Aeternum.
If developers and publishers release such a post without concrete player numbers, these are usually not very positive.
What will happen to New World?
While a The Elder Scrolls Online received a tremendous boost in player numbers through the delayed console release in June 2015, the launch of Aeternum has, in my opinion, almost faded away without effect.
If I am correct, this could be fatal for the long-term plans that Amazon Games has for New World. After all, developing an expansion like Rise of the Angry Earth is expensive. Content updates have been almost non-existent between the addon and Aeternum. Are fans of the game heading towards the next drought?
The chances for that, in my opinion, are high. After all, there are currently eight new games in development at Amazon Games. The known titles are:
- Publisher for the hack-and-slash co-op game King of Meat
- Publisher for a story-based open-world racing game from Maverick Games
- Publisher for the new Tomb Raider game from Crystal Dynamics
- Developer of the new MMORPG for the Lord of the Rings universe
Once Amazon Games finds the final direction for the Lord of the Rings MMORPG and fully enters development, the responsible parties are likely to throw as many creative minds as possible at the prestige project – and this will almost certainly include the experienced veterans from the New World team. Do you see it that way as well? More on this: There is a sign of life from the new MMORPG for Lord of the Rings by Amazon Games
