New World released the new patch 1.3 on January 25th. This mainly took care of the endgame, but also brought some bugs and discussions. One of these discussions revolves around Amazon’s “hiding player numbers.” However, this issue is being artificially inflated, says MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch.
With the new patch 1.3, New World has made some changes. One of them likely concerns the reading of player numbers. Because while previously external websites like NWDB could apparently read the exact player numbers per server, this is no longer possible since the update. The website now only gives estimates for regions but no exact numbers anymore.
There is no reason for this or an official statement from Amazon.
- Some players – and likely ex-players – saw this as a sign that New World is absolutely at the end, and is even close to maintenance mode. After all, Amazon must be hiding player numbers now.
- The topic is particularly hot on the MMORPG subreddit, where a thread on this issue is currently at number 1 and has received over 100 comments (via reddit). Many are particularly upset that a thread on this topic was deleted in the official New World forum.
- However, there is also a thread in the New World subreddit with over 300 comments (via reddit).
I find this discussion nonsense and see it primarily as a form of disaster tourism that seems to be growing in video games, especially in MMOs. Because New World does indeed have many problems that can be discussed, but this change is not one of them.
Nevertheless, many people are jumping on the news as if Amazon announced the discontinuation of New World. And that’s nonsense.
Player numbers still visible on Steam, disadvantages only with server transfers
The alleged hiding of numbers is not tenable at all.
On the one hand, player numbers can still be read easily via Steam, as New World is only playable through this platform. In the last 24 hours, there were 78,279 concurrent players online, and the average in the last 30 days was still 69,755 (via Steamcharts).
On the other hand, the exact numbers per server have never been made public. Websites like NWDB obtained the numbers independently. However, it is unclear how that was even possible because there is no official interface or API.
Amazon has simply closed a type of data leak that was never intended for the public.
What bothers me the most is the censorship accusation against Amazon. Because in the official forum, a thread was deleted in which player numbers were heatedly discussed. Unfortunately, we now only know the title of the thread, but just from that one can tell what tone was set there:
“Dead Game removed ability to see how dead it is” – translated into English: “Dead Game removed the ability to see how dead it is.”
If someone were to write such a comment with us, it would also be deleted. It is not constructive, it does not encourage discussion, but I see directly: This is only bashing, and the thread will escalate. And it likely did.
The change regarding player numbers does indeed have a disadvantage that I do not want to downplay. If you want to switch servers, you can no longer see how populated the other servers are.
However, anyone who is deeply engaged with the game knows the busy servers. Moreover, most players will probably switch to servers where they already know people rather than simply going by numbers.
Criticism of New World is justified, but not for this accusation
After the article, some will surely label me a fanboy who wants to defend the game at all costs. But that is by no means my intention, as there are enough things that can be discussed:
- With the new patch, about 20 new bugs were introduced, including problems with chat, inability to craft from storage, or servers where the dungeons no longer work (via New World Forum).
- One can discuss the dungeons themselves, which I have done. I am strongly bothered by the orbs needed to enter the dungeons.
- There is also a need to discuss balance issues, bug fixing in general, and desync, which often leads to rubberbanding.
But getting hung up on the topic of player numbers and wishing for the death of a game is for me rather a sign that some players have no interest anymore in games evolving.
They would rather see the world burn. And this has become a significant flaw among MMORPG fans in recent years.
By the way, the player numbers in New World are by no means as bad as many think. Because they often get hung up on the average player numbers or the peak numbers. But those are always just snapshots.
If there are 78,279 players online at one time, there are several hundred thousand throughout the day. New World never drops below the mark of at least 40,000 concurrent players at any single second during the weekend.
For comparison:
- Everquest 2 has 29,000 players, Lord of the Rings Online has 108,000, and Dungeons and Dragons has 46,000 players. However, those are players who log in once a month.
- RuneScape fluctuates with two versions (Old School and RuneScape 3), both of which also have a mobile version, between about 75,000 and 120,000 concurrent players (via misplaceditems).
These games have been around for years, some for decades, and are constantly being developed further. New World is moving at a similar level. By the way, I mentioned these examples because they are pretty much the only ones where I can access firm numbers from the developers. The other developers refrain from doing so, probably for good reasons, as current discussions show.
What do you think about the situation in New World? Have you already tried the new patch? And what are your thoughts on the player numbers? Please feel free to leave a comment.
Those interested in the upcoming updates of New World have already received an interesting preview here:
New World: Developers reveal new details about upcoming updates – announce important PvP feature
