Amazon decided to stop further updates for New World: Aeternum amid layoffs, and a developer has shared that fans can find a heartfelt message from the development team saying goodbye to fans.
While it may have come as a complete shock that Amazon is ending updates for their MMO, New World: Aeternum, developers have left something in the title for fans to discover while the game remains up. For the uninitiated, this week, Amazon Games made significant layoffs (part of the massive 14,000 job cuts announced by Amazon) to its workforce, reflecting “strategic changes” at the company. This included “the difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party AAA game development work—specifically around MMOs.” This announcement included the MMO, New World: Aeternum, which has been confirmed to receive no further content updates. With that designation, Aeternum could be gone completely by the end of 2026.
While the stop work notice on New World: Aeternum was a surprise to fans, developers have snuck in a farewell message to fans, as if they knew the writing was on the wall before the final Season 10 and Nighthaven update launched. Senior game designer Rachel Barnum posted the location of the note (on her official X account), which can be found on an island near the Tower of Strength in Nighthaven. Barnum credits the note to game designer Jason Bowes, and the post can be seen below.
The farewell note (found by PC Gamer) says, “Through it all we watched. We delighted. We revelled in your enjoyment of every perfect moment, every carefully crafted story, and we even bore witness to the joining of two souls who met here in Aeternum. We did it all for you dear adventurer,” in a solemn sign-off from the developers. The recently released Nighthaven expansion will be the last addition to New World.
Although the writing is on the wall, Amazon has promised to keep the servers “live through 2026.”
