At the end of September, Amazon unleashed a new MMORPG for PC owners to play. Titled New World, it was immensely successful at launch, hitting peaks of over 900,000 concurrent players. However, just one month later and the player count for New World has fallen considerably. According to Steamcharts, it is averaging 340,000 concurrent players and hitting lows of around 130,000.
It is worth understanding that a decreasing playerbase is completely normal for any new game. There are simply a lot of players who try out something when it launches and decide that it isn’t to their taste. Despite this, the rapid rate at which New World‘s playerbase is leaving is a concern.
Why is everyone leaving?
There are several reasons that players are leaving. However, many feel that above all the state of the game at release is the most difficult issue to overlook. Even if it’s not the sole reason, it seems likely that the various bugs and exploits have played a role in the player count of New World falling so quickly.
The user interface bugs that sometimes prevent players from selecting certain options are troubling but not game-breaking. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the recent item duplication exploit. This bug has gotten so out of hand that developer Amazon Game Studios was forced to disable all forms of wealth transfer until a solution is found.
Arguably the other biggest complaint with New World is that it doesn’t have enough content (something mentioned in our review). This is actually a very normal problem for just about every new MMORPG. Games in this genre take several years to develop during which zero revenue is made. Adding enough content to last would further extend this period of constant financial loss.
Other issues with New World include its flawed economy, overly grindy progression, and the lack of a content roadmap. Players who have reached the end game and hit max level currently have nothing to look forward to. Regardless, even after the drop off New World‘s player count is still impressive in the grand scheme of things. There’s time for Amazon Games to make things right by shaping New World into the MMO it was meant to be.
