Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Amazon Game Studio’s first major year deep in the gaming industry hasn’t been an easy one. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected production across the industry and Crucible wasn’t the hit that Amazon thought it would be, going back into Beta after launch. With that in mind, it would appear that Amazon’s other major gaming effort, New World is also being affected. It was recently announced that New World’s official launch would be pushed back from August 2020 to Spring 2021.
Amazon Game Studios and New World Studio Director Rich Lawrence announced the game’s delay on the game’s Twitter on July 10, 2020. According to Lawrence, the team wants more time to develop middle and end game content that will keep players immersed throughout their time with New World.
“As a result, we will be changing our launch date - and correspondingly, our final beta test - to Spring 2021,” Lawrence revealed in his statement. “We don’t make the decision lightly, and we have urgency about getting the game to you as quickly as possible at the best quality with some additions that will make the experience even better.”
Despite the delay, Lawrence added that beta players and pre-order customers would be able to play New World in its current state starting on the original launch date of August 25, 2020. A closed beta for the game was also announced for late July during the PC Gaming Show 2020 presentation. Regardless, with Crucible having seen poor response upon release and going back into closed beta since, New World is likely a game Amazon Game Studios wants to give all the time it needs to be as perfect as can be. Though it has shown some promise, our previous hands-on preview with the game agreed it needed some variety to keep things interesting.
As Amazon Game Studios continues to pursue quality with New World, it will be interesting to see how the game evolves as we move from its August beta towards the new Spring 2021 launch date. Stay tuned for more news and details about the game throughout the year.