Someone is reportedly ready to pay Amazon a fortune to buy its biggest failure before it gets shut down for good. Facepunch Studios’ director of operations, Alistair McFarlane, is willing to put $25 million on the table for New World: Aeternum.

Amazon’s push into video games was bold and ambitious, even if the results were often inconsistent. While the company’s long-term plan started back in 2014 with the creation of Amazon Game Studios, the real leap came in 2021 with its own major release: New World, a fantasy MMO that launched to huge interest, then gradually slipped out of the spotlight – only to be effectively reborn later as Aeternum. Now, following the announcement that the game is set to close in 2027, not everyone is willing to let it disappear: Alistair McFarlane, the current head of Rust, has openly offered to buy the game outright.

As Amazon Games announced yesterday, New World: Aeternum servers will permanently shut down on January 31, 2027, giving players a little over a year to keep enjoying the MMO – or for something unexpected to change the outcome. The shutdown is a direct consequence of Amazon’s decision to end post-launch content support for the game, a move revealed in 2025 that immediately raised doubts about how committed the North American giant would remain going forward.

The Studio Behind Rust Wants to Buy New World: Aeternum

As previously mentioned, Alistair McFarlane appears determined to stop the closure from happening – or at least, that’s exactly what he wants people to believe. The Facepunch Studios executive and producer – from the team behind Rust and Garry’s Mod – took to X and addressed Amazon Game Studios directly with a blunt offer: “$25 million, final offer.” Many assumed it was a joke at first, but everything suggests McFarlane would absolutely follow through if given the chance, especially since he quickly doubled down with an even clearer message: “games shouldn’t die.”

And as his posts gained traction, McFarlane expanded on the idea with a broader statement about the future of live-service games, arguing for a more open, community-first approach. “As with everything we do at Facepunch, we empower the community. Give them control and make the servers public. A game will live forever in the hands of a dedicated community,” he said, outlining a philosophy that runs counter to how major publishers usually operate.

So far, Amazon has not issued any public response to the offer, nor has it confirmed whether it would ever consider selling New World: Aeternum. Adding to the uncertainty, the title is currently not available for purchase at all, making a sale to an external buyer appear to be the only realistic path left to prevent it from vanishing completely.

Source: VidaExtra