Amazon Games has decided to run an open beta for its forthcoming New World massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game, which means that early next month anyone can play the game to see if they enjoy it.
Earlier this month, Amazon decided to delay the release of New World by four weeks, pushing the launch back to Sept. 28. However, the closed beta was a huge success with over a million players trying out the MMO and logging over 16 million hours in the process. That success did result in server issues and over-population problems, so not everyone got to experience the game properly.
The open beta will give prospective players one last chance to sample the game, but Amazon is also using it as an opportunity to test Steam’s new Playtest feature. If you have a Steam account, it means you can request access to the open beta for free. Amazon is making servers available in North America, Europe, Australia, and South America. And as it’s Steam, downloading and installing the game will happen automatically once you’ve been accepted into the beta.
The open beta begins at 7am PT on Sept. 9 and runs until 11:59am PT on Sept. 16. However, anyone interested in playing will be able to request access through Steam beginning at 7am PT on Sept. 8. The available languages include English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain & LATAM), Polish, and Brazilian Portuguese.
If you are unable to play, Amazon is allowing gameplay to be broadcast during the beta so you’ll still be able to experience the world through the Twitch and YouTube accounts of various streamers. Amazon is also promising there will be a higher server capacity to try and avoid the problems encountered in the closed beta.
