Amazon has delayed New World yet again, clearing your spring and summer calendars for other MMOs. “We’ve been hard at work on compelling end-game features we believe are important to include at launch,” the studio says. “These features won’t be ready for the Spring timeframe that we had communicated.”
Readers will recall that the game had already been delayed from May 2020 to August 2020, then from August 2020 to spring 2021. Now, Amazon says it’s bumping off the launch to August 31st, 2021, with a closed beta slated to begin July 20th.
The news follows a devastating report on Bloomberg exposing the internal chaos at Amazon Game Studios that has resulted in multiple games being canceled, some even before being announced. In that context, it’s probably better to delay than suffer the fate of another Crucible, especially given the positive sentiment gamers have had for the test versions over the last year and the general belief that the MMO needed more endgame love.
Hands-on: Does New World hold up in the midgame and beyond?
The Stream Team: A first-timer’s live exploration of the New World closed beta
The Daily Grind: So what do we all think of New World so far?
Hands-on with New World’s 20v20 PvPvE battleground and its newest dungeon
Hands-on with Amazon’s New World first expedition, Amrine Excavation
Amazon’s New World demo: Fishing, Reekwater, and hands-on havoc
Fight or Kite: New World’s beta hasn’t made me a true believer – yet
The Stream Team: A second sashay into the New World preview
First impressions: New World has the foundation of what could be a great game
Hands-on with New World’s war mode: All the fun you can have blowing up a fortress of lumber
The official announcement attempts to soften the blow with a preview of some of the new content coming in said closed beta, including the endgame zone of Ebonscale Reach, new five-man expeditions that “will take you to the darkest corners of Aeternum,” and 20v20 PvP battles called Outpost Rush. There’s a new developer video as well, tucked down below.
