New World, Amazon Game Studios’ ambitious massively multiplayer online game, has been delayed for a second time until the Spring of 2021.
The game was originally scheduled for a May 2020 release, but it was delayed until August 25 with its closed beta set for July. Those dates were moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we examined the feedback we received over the last several months from our Alpha audience, we saw that players like the game, and they would like to see even more of it,” Studio Director Rich Lawrence said in a blog post. “In particular, we want to ensure that the most dedicated players have plenty of middle and endgame experiences as they venture through Aeternum.”
He said accomplishing that goal meant “added time to get things where we want them before we fully release.”
People who signed up for the beta will now get a chance to play the game in its current version for a “limited period of time” on August 25. Those players will get emails telling them what they need to do to participate.
New World is Amazon Games’ big foray into the MMO world, and it made a splash when it was revealed during The Game Awards in December of last year. It’s set in the 17th century during the Age of Exploration on an island called Aeternum, and it’s going to be huge, with the ability for up to 100 players to fight each other all at once in special battles called fortress sieges.
“We love the thematic ideas of a newly discovered world, crude technology that might advance and mature over time, and the role that faith and superstition play in establishing an enduring settlement,” said Patrick Gilmore, Studio Director, Amazon Game Studios Orange County, in an interview with Digital Trends. “And more than anything, we loved the idea of a frontier—a sort of boundary between the known and unknown, implying there would always be something new to discover.”
The game won’t have combat similar to World of Warcraft, but it will instead offer something that allows for more direct control. Veterans from World of Warcraft and Everquest, however, are on the game’s development team.
Digital Trends has reached out for more information about the delay and will update this story when we hear back.
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