Amazon's 'New World' Video Game Debuts: What Investors Should Know

For years, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN has tried to build out a video game studio and create video games appealing to the masses. After several misses, Amazon might finally have a hit with the newly released “New World.”

What Happened: Amazon released MMORPG “New World” on Sept. 28. The game was announced back in 2016 and faced several delays before hitting the market.

In the game, players are stranded on an island called Aeternum. Players can compete solo or as teams.

The game is off to a strong start and posting strong viewership and playing numbers on major platforms.

On Steam, “New World” was the top game on its launch day with 758,543 peak concurrent viewers. The total ranks second in the last 30 days, trailing only “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.”

“New World” ranks fifth all-time on Steam now for peak concurrent users. “PUBG: Battlegrounds” peaked with 3.2 million concurrent players with “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” “DotA 2” and “Cyberpunk 2077” ranking second, third and fourth with totals of 1.3 million, 1.3 million and 830,387, respectively.

On Twitch, the game streaming platform owned by Amazon, “New World” was ranking as the second most viewed item behind the company’s generic “Just Chatting” section. Twitch is seen as a strong indicator of the success of games with many of the top video game streamers using the platform.

Related Link: 6 Video Game Stocks To Watch In 2021

Why It’s Important: Amazon struggled to release several highly anticipated games. The free-to-play multiplayer shooter “Crucible” was hyped only to be canceled after a closed beta test.

The failure of “Crucible” is part of the reason why “New World” faced so many delays, according to Amazon Games Vice President Christoph Hartmann.

“We really wanted to make sure that this time we get it right,” Hartmann told GamesIndustry.

“New World” faced some early setbacks with long queues for gamers to log in and some server issues. Ultimately the problems likely came down to the game being more popular than anticipated, which could be a good problem for Amazon if it can fix the issues quickly.

Hartmann thinks the newly released Amazon game “has to be our breakthrough game, there’s no doubt about it.”

One hit game from Amazon could create some attention to the company’s gaming division and lead to a push for more content and/or acquisitions to create a strong gaming studio with multiple hit games.

“Once we deliver a big hit, which I think ‘New World’ will be, we’ll just get even more support because we’ve proven ourselves,” Hartmann said.

AMZN Price Action: Amazon shares are down 0.083% at $3,282.32 Friday morning.

Photo: Amazon Games