Facepunch Studios COO says he'll buy New World for $25 million, and he might not be joking: 'We're always looking for new opportunities and we are open to all avenues'

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Amazon's fantasy MMO is slated to go away for good in January 2027, unless someone—say, Facepunch COO Alistair McFarlane—rides to the rescue.

new world
(Image credit: Amazon)

XDespite being a moderate success, Amazon's New World MMO will be taken out behind the woodshed on January 31, 2027 and put down for good. But Facepunch Studios chief operating officer Alistair McFarlane says "games should never die," and has thus made an offer to buy it—and a couple other well-known industry figures have said they're willing to help.

First things first: I don't know if this is a serious offer. It sounds like it isn't, but also like it could be—or, at the very least, that it might be one of those situations that starts out as a joke but then spirals into an actual thing. It's the sort of ambiguity I normally enjoy, except when it makes my job more difficult, such as now.

Simon Collins-Laflamme, who recently (and, it seems, quite successfully) rescued Hytale from cancellation oblivion, also chimed in: "If you need tips about buying cancelled games, lmk."

(Image credit: Simon_Hypixel (Twitter))

Popular streamer Gothalion expressed enthusiasm for the idea too, leading Errn, who started the whole thing, to repeat, "We offered to buy it to save it."

(Image credit: ErrnieGerrn (Twitter))

All in good fun, and probably not something to be taken too seriously, although sure, it could happen. Amazon is basically throwing in the towel on game development anyway, and while $25 million isn't big money on the Amazon scale, it's $25 million more than it'll get if it just closes the game and walks away. Surely that'd be enough to finance a small truckload of AI Snoop Dogg garbage, right?

First and foremost, though, is whether McFarlane is actually serious about the whole thing, and on that point, well, he's not saying no.

"We're opening a publishing arm of the business quite soon and we're always looking for new opportunities and we are open to all avenues," McFarlane told PC Gamer. "Games shouldn't die. Garry's Mod turns 20 this year, and Rust just recently turned 12, with the latter thriving still. We don't like to kill games off."

Dare to dream, New World fans. A lot can happen in a year.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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