‘New World’: Amazon’s Upcoming MMO Delayed Due To Coronavirus

Another game has fallen victim to the coronavirus.

On Thursday (April 9), Amazon Game Studios announced that they have pushed back the release date of their upcoming MMO game “New World” due to the coronavirus pandemic ravaging all over the world. From its May 26 release date, the launch of the game is now moved to August 25.

Amazon also noted that they have moved the start of their closed beta to July due to this unforeseen development.

While the studio said they are “making great progress” despite their developers in isolation and working from home, they also pointed out that such setup “has introduced some challenges” which left them with no other choice but to delay the release of “New World.”

“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,” Amazon said in the announcement.

Of course, “New World” is not the first and probably won’t be the last game to be delayed due to the coronavirus.

In recent weeks, plenty of game developers and publishers announced delays in their respective games due to the pandemic that has paralyzed businesses and the majority of the workforce all over the world.

Just recently, Sony announced that the release of the highly anticipated PlayStation 4-exclusive game “The Last of Us Part 2” will be postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus. While the game is already nearing completion, the team behind it cannot give a specific timeline due to the uncertainties surrounding the industry.

On the other hand, “Wasteland 3” has been pushed back to an August 28 release after being scheduled for a May 19 launch. The developers of the game cited “logistical challenges” brought by the pandemic as the reason for the delay.

Other games such as “Rainbow Six Siege” and “Final Fantasy 7 Remake” have also been affected, with the former warning about possible interruptions on updates and the latter citing a likely delay in the arrival of physical copies upon release.

It remains to be seen if “New World” will be able to stick to its August 25 launch. However, hopes are high that it won’t suffer more setbacks. The game is set to be playable on PC.