(Image credit: Amazon Game Studios)

New World is making some severe wakes for the Steam player base in its first few weeks. It offers a ton of free choices and optional PVP that appeals to a broad audience of gamers. Can the Amazon Game studios’ original MMORPG contend with Valve’s main games of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2? The Load Screen covers how the new title is fairing in the murky waters of online gaming.

Valve does something that most other game stores and content providers shy away from; they publicly show the active number of players on any of their games on the Steam & Game Stats page. Currently, three titles are battling for number one: CS: GO, Dota 2, and New World. Those three regularly get over 100,000 concurrent users, whereas the remaining 100 games struggle for more than 50,000 peak users a day. Although both PUBG: Battlegrounds and Apex Legends sometimes get close to the top three with their respective peaks. The data speaks volumes about the impact of New World and how many gamers are taking to the MMORPG.

For years Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 were alone atop the pile of Steam games with only periodic competition from a few other MMOs. SteamCharts, a website that utilizes the publicly available Steam Stats for high-quality data and charts, provides a SteamChart lifetime Comparison of CS: GO, Dota2, PUBG, and Apex Legends that shows CS: GO and Dota 2 dominance for over a year. PUBG had a strong start and was dominant in 2017 but hemorrhaged users ever since, making it a minor title in the current market. 

Then the Amazon Game Studios’ first title enters the mix with a resounding splash. From the Steamcharts home page, it shows that not only does New World garner nearly as many users as CS: GO and Dota 2, but their players are also staying online for just as long too. With so many gamers picking up and playing the MMORPG for hours, it demonstrates the developer’s broad appeal with open character choices and detailed yet rewarding crafting mechanics. If understanding the New World leveling system was too complicated, players would not consistently put in the repeated hours daily.

Steam has not had much competition at the top of its currently played games in years, with long-time gamers returning to the classic CS: GO or Dota 2 despite the availability of newer titles. Even other multiplayers that showed promise, like Back 4 Blood, struggle to make an impact or have a consistent player base on Steam. Other games may have an alternative store or service accessibility that New World does not yet have, but the Amazon Games Studios title pulls players from everywhere. Hopefully, this trend will continue since the game’s PVP action requires an active and thriving population for city-wide fights for local control.

New World

·         Platforms: PC

·         Developer: Amazon Studio Games

·         Publisher:  Amazon Studio Games

·         Release Date: 9/28/2021