New World: Aeternum Ends Development After Amazon Lays Off 14,000 Staff
Amazon has announced that development on New World: Aeternum is ending due to company-wide layoffs affecting approximately 14,000 staff. This news means that the MMO will enter a life support phase with no new content to be released in the future.
The decision means the recently launched Season 10 is the final major content release for New World: Aeternum for PC and consoles. This move is part of a corporate-wide attempt to be “organized more leanly” with the help of AI.
After layoffs affecting “approximately 14,000 roles,” it’s believed Amazon is “gutting” its video games division, which has affected New World and the company’s Lord of the Rings MMO, which may now be canceled.
The Scope of Amazon’s Corporate Cuts
In a message to employees, Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, revealed the company is cutting down its workforce by up to 14,000 people as it focuses on this “generation of AI,” which she says is “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet.”
Galetti continues to say that Amazon is “delivering great customer experiences every day, innovating at a rapid rate, and producing strong business results.” However, she asks people to remember that the world is “changing quickly” and that generative AI will help the company “make customers’ lives better and easier around the world.”
The Final Chapter for Aeternum’s Content
Unfortunately, for New World: Aeternum, Season 10 is the final major content update for the MMO. In a letter to players, the developers say they will share more details about how long the game will remain playable, but that “servers will be live through 2026.”
The game will also remain available to purchase across all platforms for the time being, and the developers promise to release bug fixes, server merges, and other minor patches.
A Strategic Pivot in Amazon Games’ Future
Amazon’s reported clear-out of its gaming decision, as well as its company-wide layoffs, confirms the company is looking to invest more heavily into AI, prioritizing cost-efficiency and speed to gain long-term profits.
With the development of New World coming to an end, and the rumored Lord of the Rings MMO now in doubt, Amazon could be shifting its strategy away from high-budget, internally-developed live-service games to third-party published titles, such as the upcoming Tomb Raider in development at Crystal Dynamics.
Conclusion
New World: Aeternum will get no more new content after Season 10, following massive company-wide layoffs at Amazon. Additionally, this raises doubts about whether we will ever see the Lord of the Rings MMO, reportedly in development at Amazon. What do you think about the company prioritizing AI? Let us know in the comments.
Fueled by a passion for gaming and the ever-evolving world of gaming news, Daniel loves connecting with seasoned and new players to bring games to life on the page, exploring their narratives and gaming trends. A self-published fiction and fantasy author, Daniel has nearly 20 years of experience writing gaming news and a love for storytelling that drives his enthusiasm to deliver breaking news, in-depth analysis, and industry innovations. You will find him in-game as "Windfell."
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