It’s not normal for a game to shed four-fifths of its users in seven days, but that’s exactly what happens when a situation is mishandled as badly as Amazon just did. The announcement about New World’s future disappointed the community so deeply that players are walking away in droves.

Just days ago, Amazon unveiled a slate of decisions for its games division that few saw coming. Thousands of layoffs, canceled projects, and even a halt to ongoing development for its flagship, New World. Developers, with evident regret, confirmed that the MMORPG — which once topped 900,000 concurrent players on Steam — would receive no further updates, implicitly raising the prospect of server shutdowns in the medium term. The news blindsided fans, and the fallout was immediate and severe.

A Game That Went ‘Dead’ Overnight

According to SteamDB, New World: Aeternum peaked above 46,000 concurrent players last weekend — a number that, in any other timeline, would justify continued support. After the update freeze announcement, however, activity cratered: this past weekend peaked just over 8,000, an 83% decline in a single week.

It’s rare for one move to trigger a collapse this steep, but the cause is obvious: players feel betrayed, and Amazon has offered no compensation. Frustration now mixes with resignation: facing the chance of servers going dark in the foreseeable future, many refuse to invest more time. As a side effect, Steam user reviews have tanked, with roughly 81% negative since the announcement.

Meanwhile, New World is still on sale across digital storefronts, and Amazon Games hasn’t disabled microtransactions. Nor does the company appear to have any plan to preserve access once the game is permanently discontinued and servers shut down. The situation has reignited interest in the Stop Killing Games movement: players risk losing not only access to a game they still enjoy but also every dollar they’ve spent.

Source: 3DJuegos