The new MMORPG New World from Amazon recently postponed its release date by almost a month to September 28, 2021. The MMORPG Elyon will be released just about 24 hours later, which is bad for everyone.
What happened? New World has built a lot of anticipation among players over the past few weeks, also due to the now completed beta. Now the game has been postponed again. While there was initially about a month between the two releases, there are now only about 24 hours. Elyon has received only a fraction of the media attention compared to New World.
What do the games have in common? Even though both titles focus on different core features, they are both, at their heart, MMORPGs. The following features await you in both games:
- Quests, dungeons, and world bosses
- Open-world PvP and more PvP content
- Player housing
- Character leveling
- Crafting and resources
New World and Elyon therefore share many core contents, even if their main focus diverges a bit.
Who is in the lead? You might think that this is just Elyon’s problem. After all, New World is currently huge. The beta alone managed to climb to third place in the Steam charts with over 180,000 players. Google Trends data also indicates that Elyon is likely to fall short in direct comparison to other upcoming MMORPGs like Lost Ark and New World. Even if that would be unfortunate, I believe, for many players.
A failure of Elyon would be bad for the genre
Why this is bad for everyone: In the MMORPG genre, it feels like so much is happening at the moment, more than in years, and that is good for every MMORPG player. Every new game in the genre generally increases the player base of the genre, from which everyone can benefit who enjoys playing multiple titles.
If Elyon actually flops right at release, it would be a loss for the entire genre. Unfortunately, the chances of this are not so low. Due to the already low interest in the game compared to New World, Elyon could become what the iceberg was for the Titanic – the downfall.
If there are fewer successful MMORPGs on the market, the market itself will also shrink. Because variety is important in any genre, leading to revitalization, exchange, and thus also to improvements of the existing titles, in my opinion.
I believe that revitalizing the genre is good in any measure. Even though I can hardly relate to mobile games, I look forward to every new mobile MMORPG that is announced. Because that means that my beloved genre is gaining a new audience that might eventually also be into the MMORPGs I am currently playing. Then I can be happy because my favorite MMO is doing better again and attracting more new players.
Why could this be bad for New World? To put it bluntly, this means that in the long run, New World could harm itself by overshadowing Elyon. If many players who actually wanted to play Elyon prefer New World at release, that is, of course, good for Amazon. But I think a few steps ahead:
If Elyon is successful and New World performs less than expected, Amazon will have to come up with something to regain success with their game. This could lead to more innovation, new mechanics, and cooler approaches. This is especially good for one party, namely us – the players.
If New World does not need to come up with new, innovative ideas because it has only a few competitors, players of New World will eventually become bored. In the long term, New World might actually not do itself any favors by pushing Elyon aside.
What do you think about the two games? Which of the two interests you more? Will you play Elyon even though you are looking forward to New World? Write it in the comments!
Our editor Alexander Leitsch has played Elyon for a while and says: “It will not be a flop, but also not a huge hit.”
