(edit: dev response flair is automatically added when a dev posts a comment below) The thead here is from the subreddit Mod team, who are all community members and do not and didn't work for Amazon.
The last couple of days it's been hard to put my thoughts together, and this has been a tough post to write.
By now, most of you have seen the news. Amazon Games has announced that new content development for New World is ending. Season 10 and the Nighthaven update will be the last major content release the game receives. While the servers are slated to remain online "through 2026," the active development of Aeternum is over.
This news comes as part of a much larger, heartbreaking wave of layoffs across Amazon's gaming division, with the Irvine studio that poured its soul into this world being hit particularly hard. It’s a gut punch, especially because it feels like it came out of nowhere. The community was buzzing again, player counts were up, and Season 10 felt like another strong step in the right direction. To have the plug pulled now, right at what felt like a new peak of potential and revitalization... is a special kind of cruel irony that I know many of you are feeling.
For me, this isn't just the loss of a game. This is the loss of a massive part of my life for the better part of a decade. It's the loss of a world I helped shape, a community I helped raise, and friendships I'll always cherish.
My Journey in Aeternum
My own story with this game is nearly as old as the game itself. I was there at the 2016 TwitchCon reveal when New World was just a bold idea alongside other ambitious projects. From that moment, I was hooked. I became one of the first members of the public to set foot in Aeternum as part of Wave 1 during Alpha 1 tests back in 2018, and have been a part of nearly every closed test since, even in concurrent new world servers during early and post-launch. All counted somewhere north of 10k hours. Over 8 years...
I was there for the wild days of the open-world PvP base-building sandbox. I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly of that system firsthand and provided feedback alongside the rest of that small, initial group of testers. I've watched this game fundamentally transform, pivot, and evolve over the years, and I've been in the trenches testing it every step of the way. This game, its development, and its community haven't just been a hobby for me; they've been a constant, driving passion for over eight years. To see it end like this feels like losing a piece of myself.
Building Our Home: From a Few Thousand to 300,000+ Strong
In parallel to my time testing the game, I was here, helping build this community from the ground up. I didn't start as the lead here but have been for nearly 5 years As the lead moderator. I've had the incredible privilege of building this space from just a few thousand curious adventurers into a bustling hub of over 300,000 people. With more than 9 million views per month. and... in the last 12 months 66,288 Moderation actions... God help me...
Some of you may even remember our old name: r/new_world_mmo. As the game evolved and its launch in 2021 approached, we decided to transition to r/newworldgame. There was a lot to that choice, even temporary fracturing of the community, but that's long ago history. It was more than a name change; it was about making this the one central place for the whole community and shedding some serious problems, eventually combining subreddits in the form it takes today, more or less. Witnessing the following growth, seeing the connections people made, the guides they wrote, the accomplishments they had, the stories they shared. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. As far as volunteer, unpaid experiences go, it has not been easy, but I stayed because I love this game and wanted to build a space where people could discuss the game, the good and the bad, and share it with the rest of reddit.
A Partnership Effectively Built
The relationship between this subreddit and the development team went far beyond simple bug reports. I personally knew over 30 developers, artists, and community managers who were passionate people who loved Aeternum as much as we did. This is as close to an inside perspective as it gets, which is why I often publicly defended Scot and Katy; they were in the trenches with us, reading our feedback and genuinely caring. Many people do not understand the long development cycles of expansions. For instance, content for Brimstone Sands was already in development at launch, and Nighthaven content had started before the Angry Earth expansion was released. This context shows the immense long-term planning required while simultaneously fixing immediate issues.
The Subreddit had/has an active relationship that led to a vital, unseen collaboration. The subreddit had a direct, private communication line to key AGS staff, which I called the "bat phone" used from launch until February 2022. When game-breaking exploits like gold dupes were found, we did not let them spread on the subreddit; we used the bat phone to tell the developers directly. This is why the mod team could confidently say the devs were aware of an issue while asking users not to share the exploit steps. We used this line to report mass server crashes and many other issues. This direct line was essential for relaying critical information during the chaos of launch queues when official channels were overloaded.
This tool was a necessary partnership born from the game's technical volatility and the developers' trust in us as a reliable alarm system. It was almost always a one-way street: we provided critical information, and in return, we got a better game and occasional subreddit art. Despite this closeness, the subreddit always maintained its independence. We never removed content unless it violated our own community-developed rules, which AGS had no input on. They respected our independence and never pushed the issue when we said no. This mutual respect made it one of the most effective community-partner developer relationships I have seen. The results of getting things fixed speak for themselves, where in one instance, I was the first to report a gold dupe issue that surfaced on Reddit, and resulted in a full market stop within 45 minutes.
That method changed in February 2022 with the formation of the "New World Experts Group," a fact I can now confirm exists (with permission from Amazon Legal), along with my voluntary membership. Scot also outed the existence of this group 3 years ago in an interview. This active group included expert players of all styles and developers, allowing them to discuss and test content in development. While I cannot share specific conversations, it allowed me, as someone who saw nearly every subreddit post and 10K hours of playtime, to provide direct feedback. The more that group was trusted, the better results we saw. It was a privilege to be part of this group and to gain the development context I mentioned earlier.
To Our Friends at Amazon Games
This part is for you, the developers, artists, Videographers, Sound Designers, Combat systems engineers, Server and backend Azoth Engine developers, designers, and community managers who are reading this.
Thank you,
Thank you for the countless hours, the passion, and the creativity you poured into Aeternum. Thank you for listening to us, for engaging with us, and for never giving up on the game, even when the feedback was harsh or the technical hurdles seemed insurmountable. We saw your effort. We felt your dedication.
Please know that the community's current anger and disappointment are not directed at you. We know this decision was not yours. It was a corporate one, made in a boardroom far removed from the world you so carefully crafted. You are as much victims of this as we are, and for that, we are truly sorry. You deserved to see this project continue to grow and flourish. The talent in your studio is off the charts, and we can't wait to see what you all create in the future. We wish you the absolute best.
The Future of This Subreddit
With the servers remaining online for a while, this community still has a home. But what it's for is going to change. The mod team is already talking about what to do with r/newworldgame long-term, and we want you all to be part of that conversation.
What should this space become?
- A Living Archive: A place to preserve the incredible guides, lore discussions, databases, and memories we've all created. A monument to the game and its community.
- A Community Hub: A place for players to organize final in-game events, "end of the world" parties, screenshot contests, and farewell tours of Aeternum.
- A Diaspora Network: A place for players to connect, share what games they're moving on to, and for companies and friends to find new worlds to explore together.
These are just ideas. We are open to your suggestions. This has always been your community, and you should have a say in its legacy.
This is a sad day, but our journey isn't quite over. Let's make the time we have left in Aeternum count. Thank you all for being a part of this incredible adventure.
A Thank You to My Team.
Lastly, I want to thank the Reddit Moderator Team. We are community members like you. Both the Current and former team members for everything, honorable mention u/joshrice for years of service and tens of thousands of moderation actions. This isn't a paid job, and it's not an easy job. but someone has to do it. for that, I can't thank them enough for their help in building and shaping this community.
u/commanderaze
I'd love to hear more stories from everyone else about their time in New World as we continue down the path forward.
