The MMORPG New World by Amazon is taking a worrying turn on Steam in 2024: There is simply nothing happening in the online role-playing game anymore. Since October 2023, it has lost 10 to 35% of its players every month. It has been a downhill slide for 10 months. Now a turnaround is supposed to come.
What is so worrying? Drought periods are normal in MMOs and MMORPGs. After a major release, it is expected that player numbers will decline. But usually, such “drought periods” only last for 3 or 4 months, then a new update comes and brings back at least some of the players. However, New World has been in a drought period for 10 months now:
- New World has lost 93% of its players from October 2023 to now in August 2024.
- In every single month, there was an average of 34% to 10% fewer players on Steam compared to the previous month.
- New World simply cannot stop this constant bleeding of player numbers.
No other major MMORPG performs as poorly on Steam as New World
Why is this so unusual? While there are also “drought periods” in comparable MMORPGs on Steam, they last a maximum of 5 months and are significantly less drastic:
- The Elder Scrolls Online had 6 “good months” since October 2023, where player numbers rose, and 4 “bad months,” where player numbers fell.
- Final Fantasy XIV had 5 “good months” since October 2023, where player numbers increased, and 5 “bad” months, where they fell.
- Even Black Desert, which seems to be at the end of its life cycle, had 3 “good months” alongside 7 “bad” months.
But New World actually achieves 10 bad months in a row.
Especially bad: All the other players listed here have console versions or other launchers, but New World is only playable via Steam.
New World halts normal development and goes all-in
What is the reason? Simply put, nothing has happened in New World for the past 10 months. Players were only repeatedly told to wait for “the big summer update” that was presented regularly.
Ultimately, it turned out that “the big summer update” would primarily be relevant for PlayStation and Xbox users, which disappointed PC players.
This policy of putting everything on the big update and doing little to continue developing the game has led to this drastic loss of player numbers over the past 10 months. Let’s see if this risk pays off. In June, many PC players seemed to have had enough of Amazon and New World: The MMORPG New World is currently facing backlash on Steam following Amazon’s announcement: Even a player with 5,000 hours is giving up
