When New World launched on September 28, the game was so popular that gamers had to queue for hours before they could begin playing. However, since then, the number of daily players has decreased dramatically. Although the game is far from dead, several converging factors do seem to suggest that the game is failing to live up to its full potential.
The Rise of New World
As is the case with many games developed during the global COVID-19 pandemic, New World faced many delays. In some ways, this was beneficial to the game, because it allowed excitement and anticipation to build up. Consequently, when the game launched plenty of gamers were eager to explore Aeternum Island and begin claiming land.
The Fall of New World
Since New World’s launch, the number of gamers logging in has been steadily decreasing. The game peaked in September when, according to SteamCharts, there were 913,634 concurrent players. However, by December 23, the game managed to only pull in 115,743 concurrent players.
One of the issues is that New World lacks some quality-of-life features and comforts that have become staples in the world of MMOs. Most notably, New World lacks mounts. New World Game Director Scot Lane has discussed the lack of mounts in the game, and although Lane states that there are no immediate plans for mounts, they may be added when the world grows large enough. He also revealed that developers did discuss the idea of having mounts in the form of donkeys, wheelbarrows, and wagons.
Another issue is that New World launched with a plethora of game-breaking bugs. One of these is the invincibility glitch, which was heavily abused during the early days of New World. This glitch can be triggered by playing in windowed mode and dragging the window around. Yet another bug caused the near-collapse of the New World economy during its early days through a gold duplication glitch.
New World is available now on PC.
