14 DAY TRIAL // New World had a troubled development cycle, as Amazon’s MMO is facing a fourth delay in about a year. The game was initially slated for a May 20 release, but due to COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed to August 25, 2020, then to spring 2021, and then to August 31.
Unfortunately, after running a consistent Closed Beta for about a week, Amazon Games decided to postpone the launch of New World a fourth time. Instead of being outed in the last day of August, New World is now scheduled to arrive on September 28.
In a message posted on Twitter, the team behind the MMO express their admiration for the support they’ve been given throughout Closed Beta as more than a million people have played more than 25 million total hours. The message also includes details about the game’s new release date and what the studio will do with the extra time.
"We want New World’s launch to be a smooth and fun experience for all players, and that means making some improvements based on what you encountered during Closed Beta. So we’re going to take a few extra weeks to smash bugs, improve stability, and polish the game. New World’s new global launch date is September 28, 2021."
The folks at Amazon Games say that while this wasn’t an easy decision, especially that the game is now getting its fourth delay, it’s the right thing to do considering the amount of work that still needs to be done.
“We know that this isn’t the first time we’ve changed our launch date in pursuit of quality, and that it can be disappointing to wait a bit longer. But we want to be sure we deliver you the highest quality game possible at launch.”
New World is not the only Amazon Games title that had a bumpy development cycle, as many remember the hero shooter Crucible which was canceled a few months after the closed beta. Also, Breakaway, another competitive fantasy brawler unveiled five years ago, was canceled just two year after it went in full production.