New World MMO Winds Down, Servers to Stay Online Through 2026

Amazon Games has confirmed that development on New World: Aeternum is ending, with Season 10 and the recent Nighthaven update serving as the game’s final content release.

New World development ended.

The announcement comes in the wake of Amazon’s massive layoffs, which saw more than 14,000 employees let go across the company and affiliates like Twitch.

According to reports by Bloomberg, Amazon Games was hit particularly hard, especially teams working on MMO projects. For New World, this means no more new content updates, though servers will remain active until 2026, giving players time to utilize their in-game currency.

Released in 2021 on PC and later in 2024 on consoles, New World was Amazon’s most successful gaming project after several other titles were canceled or failed to launch. Originally planned as a free-to-play MMO, it pivoted to a premium model and managed to carve out a loyal community. Over the past four years, the game delivered steady seasonal updates and even a major console release. But as the studio explained in its official blog, “it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game with new content updates.”

The Season 10: Nighthaven update, which launched earlier this month, will now stand as the final chapter for the game. To thank players, Amazon has made both Nighthaven and the earlier Rise of the Angry Earth expansion free for PC users. On consoles, the game will remain available through PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium for the foreseeable future.

For those worried about immediate shutdowns, the developers reassured fans that servers will stay online through 2026. They also promised to give at least six months’ notice before making any changes that would impact playability. While no new content is coming, bug fixes, server maintenance, and some recurring events will continue. However, holiday events are officially off the table.

The timing of this decision is closely tied to Amazon’s broader restructuring. As per Variety, the company is shifting away from large-scale MMO development and focusing more on cloud gaming through Amazon Luna and smaller, family-friendly projects. Unfortunately, this pivot leaves the future of other in-development Amazon titles uncertain.