New World is back, at least for now. The once-fallen MMO is again climbing the Steam charts, as Amazon’s first expansion, New World: Rise of the Angry Earth, releases on Steam. With doubled concurrent player count numbers and both the base game and its DLC climbing up the Steam charts, even pushing ahead of Valve’s own Counter-Strike 2 in some regions, it’s a promising early jolt to life.
An astonishing launch in September 2021 saw New World take the reins from some of the best MMORPGs, scoring over 900,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. However, while our New World review found a lot to love in the crafting and combat, the long-term quest progression felt rather dull and frustrating, and it seems players agreed. A rapid drop-off saw it fall below 100,000 in January 2022 and remain under that milestone since, with a brief exception in October 2022 thanks to a notable update.
The arrival of the cataclysmic New World Rise of the Angry Earth expansion has not completely changed its fortunes yet, but it is already making waves. At the time of writing, New World sits at number two on Valve’s own global Steam top selling games list, up an astonishing 74 positions from its previous place, while New World Rise of the Angry Earth is just under it in the third-place spot.
The only thing to top it is juggernaut Counter-Strike 2 – yet in some territories including the United Kingdom the base New World game has actually pushed CS2 off the top spot and claimed it for itself. Perhaps the British contingent are particularly excited about the long-awaited addition of mounts and the new Riding Trade Skill that accompanies them.
That’s quite a staggering thought – it suggests that not only are people investing in the new expansion, but many players are seemingly taking this opportunity to get on board for the first time. Given that Rise of the Angry Earth sees one of the game’s opening zones devastated by Artemis and the Beast Lords, it might be a good time to experience those early areas for yourself now before moving into the expansion content.
As for the player counts, they haven’t seen quite the same explosion yet. Both Valve and tracking site SteamDB report a 50,105 peak player count, just about doubling the 20,000 to 25,000 that the game has been maintaining for the majority of 2023 to date.
New World is currently 60% off on Steam until Tuesday October 10, 2023, if you’re considering joining the returners and newcomers yourself. Expect to pay $15.99 / £13.40 for the base edition, and $29.99 / £24.99 for Rise of the Angry Earth. Alternatively, you can get both together at a discount, as the New World Elysian Edition bundle is 34% off ($45.98 / £38.39) until October 10 also.
Be sure to take a look through the New World system requirements before you jump in, just to check that you’re ready to go. Then head over to our New World beginner’s guide for all the tips you need to get started.