Amazon Game Studios has been working on its first MMO, New World, for years now. There have been plenty of closed alpha and beta tests during that time and this year, the game is set to officially release. New World was originally due out in May, but due to the current coronavirus situation, that release date is being pushed back.
New World is now set to release on the 25th of August, as while developers were “making great progress”, working on the MMO remotely has proved challenging.
“We have made the hard decision to delay the release of New World until August 25, 2020 and the start of Closed Beta to July”, the announcement post reads. “Like most of you, our entire team has been sequestered as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. While we are still making great progress, developing an ambitious MMO like New World remotely has introduced some challenges. We want to make sure that we have the time needed to make New World the very best it can be for our players. As a result, we’ve chosen to delay the game’s release in order to reach our quality bar as we work remotely for the foreseeable future.”
Those who are already playing New World as part of the closed alpha will continue to be able to play. A closed beta will then arrive in July, followed by the game's eventual release in late August.
KitGuru Says: It is always a shame to see a game delayed but in cases like this, it is easy to understand the reasoning behind it. Hopefully the development team can stay safe and healthy as progress is made towards the new release date.