New World was Amazon's big swing into the world of MMOs, and when it launched in 2021 a lot was riding on it—especially after the embarrassing failure of Crucible. It couldn't have gone better. A perfect storm of Amazon marketing and an audience desperately hungry for a big blockbuster MMO led players to the shores of Aeternum in their droves.
At its peak, around a million settlers duked it out in this new fantasy land together, netting Amazon its first proper videogame success story. Concurrent player numbers that high are rare, especially in a game with an upfront cost, but a more action-themed combat model, coupled with nods to the enduringly popular survival and crafting genre held it in good stead.
