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Following the curious failure of Crucible when it was released last month, Amazon has postponed the hitherto slated ambitious release of its MMO, New World to a yet to be stated date in the spring of 2021. This simply means that the release of New World, the massive multiplayer online game from Amazon Game Studio, has been delayed for the second time, and this time, it's one whole year postponement.
Amazon are keen to get their flagship MMO released to compete with some of the biggest names in the industry. The game will be making an appearance on Valve's successful platform, Steam, alongside some of the biggest PC gaming titles, such as CS:GO and Dota. According to CS:GOBook, the highly anticipated game which takes players somewhere within the region of 1600's British America, is set for an early 2021 release.
During the added time, the development team will work on the content of the game and give it more flesh. They will also integrate further changes based on the feedback from players. It should be recalled that just last month, their free to play title, Crucible failed at release, and went therefore un-released.
Amazon has garnered huge popularity for having a stranglehold on retail business in the entire world, and is working towards making a sigificant and long awaited entry into the gaming world. But they've experienced bumps all along the route, in their bid to challenge the established big name developers in the gaming industry.
Up till now, Amazon has operated with a strategy that uses their dominance of the retail market to spur up the popularity of their two AAA titles, the New World and Crucible. Their plans for the two games have not panned out positively in the last few weeks, with that of Crucible suffering the most.
Crucible Unreleased
In a move that was very rare, the free to play team based shooter was unreleased by Amazon last month - and the game returns to close beta. According to the crucible developer and subsidiary of Amazon Games Studios, Relentless Studios, this takes the shooter back to the drawing board or the development stages, still delivering the best possible experience to players, as they strive to make the game better.
Why Was It Un-Released?
The reason for that was that it had a lukewarm critical response and a very low player base. But the most significant fact is that it only managed to gather double figures in the major metric for the measurement of the success of contemporary gaming, Twitch viewership. So, the simple explanation here is that Crucible was a failure, a very huge one.
However, until the Orange County development team at Amazon Game Studios gave the world the news of the postponement, the second title in Amazon's twin game planned entrance in the gaming world, New World was doing much better.
New World Delayed Again
After the first slated release date was changed because of the current health crisis, the MMO's release date is being shifted again, announced by Rich Lawrence, the studio Director.
The New World was scheduled to be launched on August 25, but Amazon has rescheduled to the spring of 2021. In a very inspiring development diary, Lawrence tried to explain the reason for the postponement, stating that it's because of some content offering issues, and that information from the feedback on the New World Alpha reveals that players wanted more of it.
Lawrence revealed that they want a situation where players enjoy more immersion in the game, and where they will understand that their studio only releases quality, durable games that they can rely on. They therefore need more time to change their procedures and implement systems that they have in mind, to give the total gaming experience their players desire.
Because of this, they are changing their release date and the final beta test to the spring of 2021. According to Lawrence, the decision was not lightly taken, because the firm is under pressure to release the game to the playing community, as soon as possible and at the highest possible quality - with some additions that will improve the game.
He went on to say that they have huge passion about the game they've been developing, and want to build in more content and features, before it is thrown open to the wider audience.
New World is a very ambitious project on its own; irrespective of the genre that Amazon is pushing. It was in the mid-2000s that MMOs took center stage. Currently, the genre is full of many huge names that have created huge legacies, and they include titles like World of Warcraft, making New World seem like a not properly thought out new comer. New World can be easily described as uninspired as there is nothing new or unique in their official site. It looks, feels, and reads like those of the many other MMOs before it.
However, Amazon seems to believe that the fact that they are taking on the established formula of filling a fantasy sandbox with lots of players, is enough to satisfy the bored genre veterans out there.
A Prudent Approach
Jeff Bezos' huge desire to delve into gaming may have some earthly justification after all, after an avalanche of reports and testimonials accusing the parent firm of inhuman warehouse conditions. Yet we should appreciate the fact that Amazon made a huge effort to develop better games in the first place, even when it led to their having to shoulder or live with the shame of un-releasing a game. The humility is one that you will not find in many of the developers and publishers with the type of huge pockets that Amazon can boast of.
In the industry, there are many cases where developers refused to take down games that were no good, showing deaf ears to criticisms from players and enthusiasts. The Battlefield V series from Dice and EA is a perfect example of the result of moving ahead with a game even when it has been revealed that it has a fundamental flaw. The result of that is the type of downturn that Dice has witnessed in the last two years that made them quit game development completely two months ago.
One of the most glaring things about the announcement of the issues with Crucible and New World, is the fact that the importance of player feedback has been hugely recognized and given priority over many other things. The core of the entire scenario has resulted in Amazon acting seriously on player feedback, realising that serious action was required. It is good to note that it will be a worthwhile venture for us to wait for some more time, if the wait will mean having a revamped Crucible and a better New World, and I know many others will find the wait worthwhile if the results turn out good.
