Alistair McFarlane, COO of Rust developer Facepunch Studios, has ‘offered’ $25 million to Amazon Game Studios to save New Word: Aeternum from being pulled offline, after it was announced last week that the MMO would be ending service on January 31, 2027.
New World: Aeternum is no longer available to purchase on storefronts and will remain playable until the end of January next year. In wake of the news that New World is being pulled offline, McFarlane took to X offer $25 million to rescue New World, commenting “games should never die.”
McFarlane also commented on what he’d do if he were to save New World: “Give them control, make servers publicly hostable. A game will live forever in the hands of a dedicated community.”
Yes, it’s a very nice sentiment, but it’s probably best we mention that McFarlane made the offer in response to another member of Facepunch who joked that she asked McFarlane to buy New World for her, but was told to ‘f**k off.’ So, it could all be light-hearted, and even if isn’t, we have no idea if Amazon Games would even entertain such an offer.
Still, would it be great if the game could be saved by someone stepping up? Absolutely. Too many games are pulled offline and remain unplayable, after all. And it’s not as if New World doesn’t have a loyal fanbase to keep it going.
Amazon Games announced in October last year that development on New World: Aeternum was wrapping up but the game would remain online throughout 2026. It followed this up with confirmation last week that the game is set to be pulled offline in January 2027, with the Nighthaven season being extended until servers are taken offline.
New World was originally released for the PC in September 2021 and takes place in the mid-17th century, where players colonise Aeternum, a fantasy world inspired by the Americas that grants anyone who visits it immortality. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game arrived under the title New World: Aeternum in October 2024, which was accompanied by a series of major updates for the PC version. You can read our full review here.
[Source – Alistair McFarlane on X via Dexerto]