Amazon Fantasy MMORPG, ‘New World,’ Now Coming In August, Beta In July

In a development blogpost, Amazon Game Studios detailed the future of their murky, and thought-AWOL project, New World, a massive multiplayer online role-playing game. Barring another COVID-19 related delay, AGS plans to release New World at the end of August. There will also be a “closed beta” in July. AGS calls the beta closed, but as long as you pre-order the game, you can access the beta in July.

“We’ve been hard at work on compelling end-game features we believe are important to include at launch,” wrote the dev team. “These features won’t be ready for the Spring timeframe that we had communicated. With that in mind, we will release New World on August 31, 2021. With this extra time we’ll be able to add these substantial improvements while polishing and fine tuning the whole game before we open Aeternum’s shores to the world.”

New World was previously expected to release in May and after their initial delay, AGS did not attach a new release date.

The newest footage shows more than a dozen sweeping shots of the game’s various settings – some of Nordic influence, others traditional Chinese. AGS and New World promises a full MMO experience in a market already dominated by two time-honored titans: World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI (the latter just announced their newest expansion last week).

Gamers from 2006 will remember a game of an uncannily similar title with disturbingly similar promises: Two Worlds. Meant to be the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion killer, Two Worlds was a highly-anticipated fantasy RPG meant to bust into the game market with vigor. In reality, it limped onto store shelves rushed and notoriously unfinished. With AGS’s already worrisome history of poor game performance and sales, especially with the retroactive canceling of their game, Crucible, after pitiful game sales, New World has the odds against it coming into its release.