Amazon's upcoming New World MMO has been hit with heavy criticism from its community of prospective players for the news that a premium currency shop that will mean XP boosts, as well as in-game homes and special cosmetics, will heavily lean into encouraging people to pay their way through the game. Amazon has claimed that these are just part of the alpha test, and may not be indicative of the final game, but fans aren't happy.
Amazon's forray into game development hasn't been as strong as you might expect for a company with effectively unlimited resources. It's had two big failures in major game releases in recent years, and New World was somewhat necessary to convince people that its efforts weren't doomed to continuous failure. As exciting as the game looks with as much potential as its setting and gameplay have, there are already cracks beginning to show.
The latest is the idea of paying for progression, along with major quality of life enhancements only available to premium payers.
Please read this letter regarding the storefront testing we are currently doing in Alpha. pic.twitter.com/IucMciGWC1
— New World (@playnewworld) May 15, 2021
The developer did release a statement on the matter, hoping to assuage concerns, but it appears to only have made matters worse. Gamers pointed out that clear desire to rush players to end game content by encouraging them to skip or quickly level past major portions of the game.
Others have suggested that they at least wait a few months into the game's release before encouraging boosting. Otherwise end-game content will be dominated by paying players right from the get go.
What approach do you think Amazon should take with New World's currency stores?