Amazon Games has permanently banned more than 1,200 players for using a bug to duplicate in-game coin and resources, and for a similar “attack against a different game system” that was used in housing, resulting in items being removed from the economy and trade post listing being cancelled. Community manager Luxendra explains in a blog post that the first wave of bans happened on November 2, which the team estimates eliminated over 80% of duped coin and item value from the MMORPG’s in-game economy.
“The remaining duped items have continued to hurt many players’ experience,” the community manager says. “It didn’t affect all players or worlds equally, and also more significantly impacted players who were pursuing end-game goals and gear. We apologise for the impact this has had on some of our most dedicated players. It’s disheartening to see others cheat to obtain what you have worked so hard to achieve, while also hurting the economy in the process.”
Luxendra says Amazon Games banned an additional 460 players for using the original trade or newer housing exploits on November 15 after the team managed to “unravel and identify” where the items and coin landed. “By doing so, we were able to remove 98% of remaining duped items and coin in the game,” they share. “The small amount of duped items that remain were a result of players who stumbled upon the duping issue but did not take exploitive action, and will not be banned.”
Amazon Games has also investigated how duped items have impacted end-game progression, finding that there isn’t a notable uptick of max level gear. You can catch the blog post to check out all the team’s findings, though the devs are still examining a narrower list of items involved in the housing exploit.
Amazon’s recent blog post follows the decision to switch New World’s economy off once again after another duplication exploit started circulating over the weekend. The exploit appeared to allow players to duplicate furniture items, with the in-game market becoming flooded with trophies as knowledge of the bug spread.
The team is still pushing ahead with new content while they bring New World’s economy into balance. Just last week, the MMORPG got its first PTR, introducing a new weapon, enemy faction, and improvements to missions.