For 6 months, Amazon had promised fans of their MMORPG New World that a big announcement in June would turn everything around. The announcement has now come, and it did turn everything around, but at least on Steam, it’s going in the completely wrong direction. The reviews on the PC platform are disastrous, and the mood is at an all-time low. Even a player with over 5,000 hours in the MMORPG is announcing their departure.
What is the current mood in New World? The mood among existing fans is catastrophic:
- On Steam, the reviews have now dropped to “Mixed” – only 69% are positive
- Among recent reviews, the rating is even “Very Negative” – only 11% are positive
- On Reddit, many negative threads have emerged, with MMORPG streamer Asmongold also heavily criticizing the game
New World announces “amazing news” for 6 months – But it falls flat
What was announced? The Amazon announcement is essentially:
- New World is getting a relaunch as an action RPG
- New World will be released as “New World: Aeternum” on consoles PS5 and Xbox
Why are PC players so upset? The problem is that Amazon hinted for many months that a big announcement was coming, but did not reveal what it would actually look like.
Even as recently as 4 weeks ago, they received a lot of criticism for merely hinting that great news was coming, without sharing the details.
Thus, fans of New World, who all play on PC, had imagined how their own gameplay would be improved.
However, the current update is mainly focused on attracting new player groups and not on improving the experience for existing players.
While Amazon promises improvements to the combat system in the current game, players would have preferred an update that focuses solely on their version of the game and not on appealing to console players.
Many fans had hoped for a better endgame – Not for a console port
This is what the reviews say: A player with 964 hours says: He had long hoped that New World would turn things around and especially add endgame content. The first few hundred hours are incredibly cool, but then it falls off. The “June announcement” is now so disappointing that he can no longer recommend the game.
A player with 2,000 hours says he primarily wanted technical improvements so that he could play New World with decent graphics at 30 FPS, but the devs only talk about how great their game looks and don’t take action.
A player with 5,064 hours gives a negative review: He has been playing the game since launch. But the developers have taken it in a direction he no longer wants to play. He ends with: “Thanks for the entertainment, but goodbye.”
They are neglecting the old customers for the new ones
So is the mood on Reddit: It is a big mystery to players why Amazon made such a big secret out of the announcement, continuously raising expectations. In the comments, it says:
- “None of us care about a console release. If they had announced it in January, we would have just said, “Cool story, bro.” But they told us they couldn’t talk about it yet, and we would get “incredibly great news in June.”
- Other PC players say they feel sidelined and neglected for the “new attractive console market.”
- Another puts it succinctly: “They are neglecting the old customers for the new ones.”
If Amazon was hoping for a reaction to the announcement, like with The Elder Scrolls Online, it has likely failed for now. The rule is: The longer you keep people waiting for a big announcement, the harsher their reaction will be: Amazon hits the reset button: New World becomes an action RPG – Also for PS5 and Xbox
