As New World dies thanks to Amazon, ex World of Warcraft lead thanks the devs who made it for "trying to keep the MMO dream alive" as he struggles with his own new MMORPG

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New World season 10 is the game's last major update

New World
(Image credit: Amazon)

After a little over four years of updates, Amazon is throwing in the towel on New World. The recently launched season 10 of the ambitious fantasy MMO will be its last, and among those providing commiserations is a former World of Warcraft dev who's very aware of the current struggles.

Greg Street, who served as lead systems designer on World of Warcraft for several years, posted a simple tribute on Twitter to the team behind New World. "I'm sorry for my friends at Amazon who were trying to keep the MMO dream alive," he stated.

A longtime designer who’s been in the industry for over 20 years, Street is currently attempting to put out an MMORPG himself, through Fantastic Pixel Castle, for which he serves as studio head and game director. Started in 2023, the outfit has been working on a fantasy multiplayer game for some time, though earlier this month, Street revealed they were having trouble finding a publisher after a deal with NetEase fell through.

When asked about the climate of triple-A development, where we've seen numerous layoffs and canceled projects over the last couple of years, Street mentions it's possible with the right management. "I think it's sustainable with realistic budgets and timeframes. But indies are having a great moment right now," he says.

Amazon cited sustainability issues in its decision to pause the rollout of additional features for New World, and the decision comes amid layoffs affecting 14,000 employees across its video game operations. Getting an MMORPG off the ground and keeping it alive are two distinct struggles, and in a world where there are already so many live-service games vying for people's time, carving out space for New World can't have been easy.

The game will remain playable through 2026, per official messaging, and a minimum of six months' notice is promised before anything happens that impacts access.

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Anthony McGlynn
Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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