Amazon’s long-troubled MMORPG New World: Aeternum may have reached its final frontier. Just days after the game’s 4th anniversary, the corporate giant confirmed that New World‘s latest Nighthaven seasonal update will be its last. This development comes after the New World community started celebrating how the MMORPG finally found its footing, only to be placed on life support soon after. Apparently, the massive layoffs at Amazon have gutted AGS (Amazon Game Studios).
As confirmed on the New World website itself, Amazon Games’ Irvine studio, the primary team behind New World, has reportedly been affected as part of a sweeping corporate layoff that resulted in the termination of over 30,000 employees. Hence, the MMORPG is apparently “no longer sustainable” for Amazon. Here’s the official wording from the New World website:
Season 10 and Nighthaven update will serve as the final content release for New World on PC and consoles… To ensure all New World players can experience this content, we also made Rise of the Angry Earth free for all PC players.
In the coming months, we will provide more details on what to expect and other essential information. Rest assured, our intention is to keep servers operating through 2026, allowing our community time to continue their adventures in Aeternum. Additionally, New World: Aeternum will still be downloadable for PlayStation Plus members (Extra and Premium).
We will provide more details on what to expect in the coming months. We will provide a minimum of six months’ notice before making any changes that impact your ability to play New World: Aeternum… While New World will not be receiving new content updates, servers will be live through 2026. Our focus has been on completing the Season 10: Nighthaven content update and sharing it with our players.
So while the game will remain active for at least six more months, likely thanks to a skeleton crew, New World‘s future is bleak, and no new content will be available. Meanwhile, numerous social media users on Reddit and LinkedIn have noticed that AGS’ former developers and artists have begun posting farewell messages online, while others have quietly updated their LinkedIn job statuses to “Open to Work.”
New players are angry and disappointed
The timing couldn’t be worse for fans. Earlier this month, New World celebrated its 4th anniversary with the free Nighthaven update, and many players took it as a sign of the MMORPG’s health. The Steam numbers even painted an assuring picture with almost 51,000 peak concurrent players this month. Needless to say, it was an unexpected predicament for many players.
“[Expletive] off i just bought it last week, and only had like 4 hours to play due to never-[expletive]-ending queues. [Expletive] Amazon,” fumes a new player. Another player was also deeply disappointed by Amazon’s move, especially after how the New World community considered Nighthaven as a resurgence for the game, “Such a shame, finally in a great place. But nah, lets go make AI snoopdog slop games. CEOs in a nutshell.”
So while there’s an assurance from what’s left of the dev studio that New World will make it to 2026, many have lost hope in it and won’t continue supporting the game. There’s always a chance that Amazon might completely pull the plug. Players also likely won’t be spending any more microtransactions in a dead game, seeing as they can lose all they worked for based on a corporate whim. “Well I guess it’s time to uninstall. No point in playing anymore,” realizes one of the players.
