Amazon's New World delayed again into late summer

Maybe project management should have opted for Prime Overnight Delivery.

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It has been nearly a decade since Amazon formally launched its own game studio in 2012. In the time following, the publishing house’s output has been underwhelming, to say the least. The online retail giant still has lofty expectations for its most famous title, the MMO New World. Players will have to wait a bit longer to get into the action though, as the game has been delayed yet again. The new release date is now expected to land on August 31.

New World is no stranger to delays, most recently it was pushed to Spring 2021 in an announcement last summer in order to give the development team enough time to flesh out endgame content. That announcement followed shortly after Amazon Game Studios’ Crucible had a disastrous launch that saw the game yanked from sale and sent back into closed beta status. Amazon made the call to formally cancel development on Crucible shortly after.

Our own Donovan Erskine had the opportunity to play New World and published his thoughts around Thanksgiving 2020 in anticipation of the Spring 2021 launch. While those impressions were positive, it's clear that Amazon does not want another Crucible situation on its hands and will be giving New World the time it needs to meet expectations. 

Today’s delay announcement comes along with a progress report and confirms that players will have a chance to enter a closed beta session that begins July 21, 2021. The closed beta will be available to anyone who has pre-ordered New World. Hopefully, any last-minute issues arising from the beta can be ironed out ahead of the new August release date.

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.

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