MMORPG on Steam once had over 900,000 players simultaneously, now only 1 percent of them are playing the new season

The developers of Amazon Games continue to fail to attract more players to the servers of New World with their seasons. Parts of the community are annoyed by the untapped potential of the MMORPG.

Which season is currently running? The “Season of the Divide” started on May 13, 2025, for New World, but initially only brought a portion of the new content. For example, a map and a mode for the Outpost Rush, the barbershop, a world boss event, or the spectator camera for 3vs3 arenas. The seasonal hardcore server, however, will not arrive until early June.

Just like the Conquerors season that started in January 2025, the second season since the Aeternum restart also fails to significantly increase player numbers.

While there were over 8,000 peak Steam users online in New World at the end of April, this weekend, there were 9,700 concurrent active Steam users (via steamdb.info). For comparison: The all-time high is 913,634 concurrent players. Currently, the MMORPG only reaches about 1 percent of the player numbers from that time.
Only 62 percent of the 388 reviews on Steam from the past 30 days are positive. Players particularly criticize the monetization (brand new: paid barbershop tokens).

The launch trailer for New World Aeternum:

New World Aeternum: Well-Staged Gameplay Trailer for Launch

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“The game had so much potential …”

What is the community discussing? Over the weekend, there was a discussion on Reddit about the current state of New World, which received over 1,000 upvotes and more than 470 comments. Many players regret how the MMORPG has developed despite its enormous potential.

Nexrom17 writes on Reddit: “Honestly, it’s sad how the fate of this game has turned out. One of the best graphic styles, crafting/gathering systems, and a fantastically designed setting. I get sad every time I see the game in my Steam library 🙁 .”
Lostclause sums it up on Reddit like this: “Amazon thought they knew better than millions and millions of MMORPG players and didn’t bother to listen to them until it was too late. First impressions count.”
CanofPandas argues on Reddit that there wasn’t actually that much potential: “It was doomed to fail from the start. The combat was good, but it couldn’t be meaningfully expanded in a balanced way. Six months before the launch, there was a panic shift to PvE. Every major update came a year too late […].”
Grumpalo65 has a tip for Amazon on Reddit: “They should just make the game free at this point. That would probably at least bring in a flood of console players. 60 euros for a dead game is a joke.”

How does MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz evaluate this? New World should serve as a cautionary tale for all developers about how problematic it is to change the direction of a game 180 degrees in the middle of production. Even now, more than 3 years after the release, the MMORPG still carries this baggage.

The situation is also not improving because the developers continue to make avoidable mistakes:

Why release the important Aeternum rework in the vicinity of Throne and Liberty, a major update for Lost Ark and WoW: The War Within? In a month that also sees the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Silent Hill 2, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Player numbers are dropping, servers are dying – why further split the remaining community with seasonal content instead of focusing on providing enough content on the regular servers?
And why are so many new features of the two Aeternum seasons revolving around PvP, which evidently only appeals to a certain niche? Many new players drawn in by Aeternum were primarily attracted by the theme park and improved PvE content.

But I also think: New World had enormous potential – because of the exciting setting, the audiovisuarily impressive world, the motivating crafting experience, and the support that a corporation like Amazon can provide.