Amazon Games’ New World–which seems to be one of the only projects the company has kept from being canceled–is due out this August, and the game is going to have a real-money store. However, the development team is soliciting players’ feedback regarding this store are trying to be transparent about future plans.
The game’s recent alpha-stage patch notes made mention of the in-game store, and studio director Rich Lawrence released a statement on Twitter to explain how it would work.
“All store items at launch will be exclusively cosmetic in nature,” Lawrence said. “We are introducing the storefront in alpha in order to test these items and their value. No selections in the store or their indicated cost (during testing there is no real cost in any case) is final. Our purpose is quality assurance and gathering player feedback, so please share your thoughts once the system is introduced.”
It’s possible that future paid content will be more than cosmetic, however, such as “rested XP” or fast-travel, though Lawrence said this will not be the only way to get this content, and he added that the team wants to keep listening to feedback as it decides how to move forward. Down the line, a battle pass-style system may be introduced to combine certain items, but it will be tested first to ensure it doesn’t cause issues with gameplay.
New World, set to release for PC on August 31, is a huge MMORPG that Amazon Games has been developing for several years, and many of the studio’s other projects have been canceled. This includes a separate Lord of the Rings MMO which was reportedly canceled over a dispute with Tencent, as well as the shooter Crucible, which took the unusual step of actually releasing before it was then removed from sale and shut down.
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