new-world-active-players-soar

There are now more New World active players than at any other time this year.

The inglorious decline of the New World active players total has been a dramatic and well-documented tale to this point. But despite the sour taste that this once promising MMO had left in the mouths of many (not least Amazon Games themselves), it looks as though the day of redemption may be at hand.

The title's first big expansion, Brimstone Sands, launched in the middle of October, and it's safe to say that it stuck the landing. It breathed new life into the mystical world of Aeturnum via a sweeping new locale, new mechanics, and a greatsword that would make Cloud Strife blush, to name a few things.

Aptly, the expansion's release allowed New World to gather a momentum that Amazon Games has used as deftly as a Greatsword wielder, as it was swiftly followed this weekend with the introduction of fresh start worlds. And the Steamcharts results are in.

We're no statistical experts, but those are some nice-looking numbers. The staggered release of the Fresh Start Worlds managed to clog up the queues on Friday to the point where Amazon Games had to add even more fresh start servers than they had originally planned. Add to that a half-price sale over the weekend and what we have is a recipe for success.

Since the heady heights of the nearly one million active players that it enjoyed upon release, New World suffered a sharp decline in players that hit around 115,000 before the year was out. The numbers were at their worst over summer, where just over 20,000 were toughing it out in Aeturnum, while other MMO gamers either returned to WoW or FFXIV or pressed on in their hunt for something else to warm their beans.

But now, with over 130,000 New World active players recorded over the weekend, it looks like we could be in for a comeback.