New World Game Director: "We've Made Some Mistakes Trying To Move Too Fast"

Monthly updates are still on target, but will focus more on fixes than new content.

Jason Winter
By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted:
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New World PTR Announcement

New World started strong but has been plagued by issues seemingly every other week since. We've covered exploit after exploit, and it will come as no surprise to you that the game's developers are as unhappy about seeing them pop up as you are.

IGN talked with Game Director Scot Lane about New World, which is now three months old. He said that it was "no secret we’ve made some mistakes trying to move too fast," a curious statement for a game that was delayed by a year past its initial launch date. Issue after issue "detracts from what we really want to be doing," Lane said, and that will force his team to shift from content to bug-fixing and balance in their monthly updates.

In the not-a-bug-but-still-a-problem category, Lane also said that the game's economy is not "where we'd like it to be," and a number of tweaks have either been implemented or are on the way. Player housing costs and tax burdens are also proving unpopular, prompting the interviewer to ponder if New World was "an experimental economic realm where Jeff Bezos can propagate the idea that all tax is bad, actually." Lane thought that was actually the opposite, saying that "home owners, who feel gouged can band together and overthrow them [the factions controlling their cities] via wars."

While many of New World's issues are understandably frustrating for Lane and players alike, they also read like a company that simply wasn't prepared to handle the complex nature of an MMORPG. Everyone likes to plan cool gameplay ideas and mechanics; nobody wants to think about network infrastructure and bug-squashing, and only a few give much thought to a game's economy. It feels to me like Amazon was more concerned with how awesome their game was without giving nearly as much thought as to whether it would work properly, and that's led to no end of problems for the young MMO.

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In this article: New World, Amazon Games.

About the Author

Jason Winter
Jason Winter, News Editor

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

More Stories by Jason Winter

Discussion (1)

Flintstone 2 years ago
Those who want to over take thrones will do so, but me I think its all waste of time, the game has something going for it but lacks passion from players who just want to ruin you. Its no fun being in a economy that does not work that is totally confused by player dumps and take overs and idiots who think they are gods set out to mess with every players fun.
The game outside of financials is great but is totally lost in its greed of player driven economies and wipe outs. I just think the game massive fault, brings no fun at all.


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