New World's Steam page has become a tombstone: You can't buy it, the image gallery just announces its shutdown, and the reviews are laying into Amazon for killing it

(Image credit: Amazon)

In the wake of "strategic changes" at Amazon that cost 14,000 jobs and drove a stake through the heart of its best-known RPG, New World, the game's Steam page has become a sort of tombstone for it. Options to purchase the game are gone, the recent reviews are an angry chorus of fans blindsided by Amazon's decision to kill the game, and even the screenshots have vanished. In their place is a single, static image informing onlookers that content updates are done.

You can compare the page's glow-down yourself. On the Wayback Machine, a version of the New World Steam page from October 7 features 14 screenshots, three trailers, and 'Mostly Positive' recent reviews, plus options to purchase either the game's standard or deluxe edition. It's now all gone.

"Recently started playing [and] was enjoying it, now it's being shut down because Amazon being Amazon," reads one recent negative review. One player, with over 7,000 hours registered in the game, writes "Now AGS has 'sunset' the game. Corporate language meaning: we stopped understanding our own product and decided to turn off the lights.

"New World did not die because of the players. The players were loyal, stubborn, delusional, passionate and impossible to break. New World died because AGS kept reacting to the game like it was a problem instead of a miracle they accidentally created."

Perhaps the most heartbreaking recent review is actually a positive one. "I wish this game stayed for a little longer because it's very nice," wrote one reviewer with nearly 60 hours clocked.

I gotta say, it does feel remarkable how quickly Amazon has washed its hands of this whole thing. A few days ago I'd have told you that New World was one of the more successful games in the Bezos stable. Not a mega-success by any stretch, but a game that had carved out a niche for itself and seemed to be doing well off of it. Now its Steam page looks like one of those houses they blur on Google Maps because a horrible crime happened in there.

Perhaps it'll all be worth it when Amazon completes its casual-gaming pivot with its Luna streaming service and we're all playing the AI-powered 'Judge Snoop Dog' game. Hey, you never know.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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