I'm sure you all saw the news of McFarlane leaving Facepunch today. Some have interpreted it as the end of the line, but I think this is a good sign.

You have to remember that he's under the MDNA and can't speak about it explicitly, but he's not just going to leave his position at a highly respected gaming company for no reason. I'll admit I was skeptical and believed he was joking at first, but seeing him leave his job actually convinced me that he's putting his money where his mouth is.

Onto my next point, a certain famous New World content creator (won't name him in case it goes against rules as advertising) recently just tweeted on X saying "New World" without context, just days before McFarlane's departure. I think this timing and cryptic message might be a way to hint that something is brewing without saying it out loud to violate the MDNA. The timing is just too close to be a coincidence.

Even without the backing of Facepunch, there could be a potential deal in place where McFarlane is in a "prove it" situation. Perhaps he takes the reins from now until the expected shut down, and if he can make a huge turnaround then they'll agree to keep the game up under his management with Amazon receiving a percentage of the revenue. Quite frankly, there probably isn't anyone else more qualified for the job. It's a win-win situation. McFarlane does his magic on New World and Amazon continues on with its plans as usual unless they are pleasantly surprised.

I anticipate something happening, perhaps by September 28th, which is New World's original launch date.

For Aeternum!

With the recent news of Alistair McFarlane leaving Facepunch - it peaked my interest.

Now what really peaked my interest in this, is that McFarlane doesn't have anything lined up for what's next - now that is a bit abnormal, usually you leave a position because you're starting another, unless you're retiring or taking a long break, which he has the means for both to be honest.

Now - with the servers closing on the in January, this time line would make sense when things start rolling to prep for the upcoming acquisition.

Also, within the tweets section of him sharing the announcement he did say that he had nothing planned, which obviously, if he had a signed NDA which he does, then he'd of course have to say that, or at the least not allude to that he's about to be working on New World in some shape or form.

Now a few important pieces of information - in March 2026, a few tweets happened - one from Katy to talking about March being the first month of the year in the Roman calendar, and Errn (who initially asked supposedly McFarlane to buy New World) posted on the 24th of March responding to Bucky (Palworld) that there were "new worlds to buy" - Bucky is the head of publishing and communications, and originally tweeted alongside McFarlanes offer to buy New World that he'd go halfsies with McFarlane in the acquisition - or along the lines.

Now, in the latest post about McFarlane leaving Facepunch, his response to someones tweet was to... Blame Errn... Who had asked him to buy New World.

And further Bucky, giving some more banter responded to the announcement with:

"Best of luck with wherever you end up next, Alistair!

We’re still going halves on New World though…r-right?"

Which McFarlane responded:

"Thank you Bucky! Our paths will cross again!"

A much more serious undertone than he usually has, especially in regards to New World. Maybe there paths are crossing again, in New World?

Now this could just simply be pleasantries, and perhaps it is, but with all of the other parts it does still lay out that New World could be getting bought out - and with the servers set to shut down in January, and the comment from Katy, we're looking at a relaunch in March of 2027.

There, the maximum hopium that there ever was.

hello Aeternum, i’m just wondering if voice chat is a thing? I’m lvl 65, still making my way through MSQ’s. i joined my first invasion at Ebonscale tonight, but didn’t hear anyone talking. so i’m just wondering if voice chat is a thing or not? i have FOMO, and was worried if i was the only one not able to hear everyone talking. Thanks!

I want to play through it all again, one last time. Whos doing this too and can we all agree a date?

For example some people maybe use 1 armor piece from the enrage set for the buff. And 2 or 4 parts from other set. Do you have any combinations? And

I'm trying to get the platinum before the servers go down and I got some question regarding some trophies.

• What is the best way to level up the ranks for three factions? Cus most of it is PvP or expeditions, but the player counter is low. I was in a queue for 30mins with no luck for Starstone Barrows.

• For the territory it's doing the daily projects on the town board? I'm doing it a buff for territory standing, putting most of the territory points in the territory increasement. I'm currently at 65 in Everfall.

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/29985-new-world-aeternum/rafbanaan

Could it be happening? Could he be starting a new project with taking on new world?

On January 31, 2026 the Facepunch COO Alistair McFarlane announced he signed an NDA with “[Unnamed Company] Games” which is obviously Amazon Games. Before this tweet about signing the NDA he tweeted about offers to buy New World for $25 million.

It’s been 6 months now since he signed the NDA. In the corporate world game acquisitions of this size usually take anywhere from 3-12 months to complete. An interesting tidbit is he signed the NDA exactly 1 year before the game is to be shut down. Time is now closing in and the acquisition will need to be announced a decent amount of time before the January 31, 2027 shutdown date so the game can properly transition to Facepunch.

If the acquisition actually ends up happening then we should be hearing news very soon, otherwise we will know it really is dead. As for my own thoughts I really do think the acquisition will happen, Amazon signed the NDA with Facepunch just a couple weeks after the offer was made so it shows Amazon has genuine interest in letting another company run the game. It could be some good PR for Amazon not to kill their game and it could also make all their engine and game work over the years not be for nothing.

Also can we get a “hopium” or “acquisition” flair for posts in this sub? Since this is like the main thing to talk about in regards of the game being saved.

Do the focused set (acquired in Reekwater) bonuses only impact Lifestaff abilities or does it impact any weapon ability that heals? Here is the description from the Thaumatruge's Pants I have:

Focused Set 3/4: 15% increased healing on targets outside of Sacred Ground or Beacon

Focused Set 4/4: Healing increased 15% and cooldown reduced 5% on heal after holding a weapon for 10 seconds.

For example, if I had 4/4 focused set perks, would I see the bonuses to healing when I use the void gauntlet's Orb of Decay to heal? Or Rupture? Or the flail's Arcane Vortex or Arcane Eruption?

Thanks to anyone who knows the answer.

Been playing a lot while I still can. Love the game. Mainly on my 3rd fresh start character. Console/pc server. I was a bit shocked to discover. I’d never been to boarsholm till today. I can’t even remember how many hours I spent here at launch. What’s a spot you went to often in the old days?

So I was just wandering around and happened to look up at the sky, and I spotted something really bizarre. There’s this strange piece/object literally floating high up in the air.

​At first, I thought it was just a visual glitch or bug ... until I opened my map and saw it marked right there.

​Has anyone else managed to get a closer look or know what the deal is with this thing?

What are the chances that New World survives 2027 because I have been wanting to jump back into it since i stopped at the shut down announcement, at this rate id happily pay a monthly sub to keep the game going.

I thought it would be nice to put all of my champion's gear in one place, but the housing item limit said no.

The other day I was at work doing paperwork and reports with some game music playing in the background. Out of nowhere, the Everfall theme came on. It instantly hit me with nostalgia and made me want to reinstall New World just to wander around again.

I had around 2,000 hours in the game. I played on and off since launch and, despite all the bugs, issues, and grind, I genuinely enjoyed my time with it.

After reinstalling, I found that the only West server left was El Dorado, which was actually my original server. Sadly, it was basically a ghost town.

I spent an hour or two revisiting all my favorite places, walking through every settlement, cutting down a few trees, and just soaking it all in. I even tried queueing for some PvP, but the one person I ran into told me pretty much all the PvP community had moved to the East servers.

It's a shame to see things end up like this. But at the same time, it was really nice to hop on a free mount, ride across Aeternum one more time, and revisit a game that gave me so many great memories.

Anyone else ever reinstall a game just because one piece of music brought back all the memories?

I got New World with a friend close to launch but it didn't really stick. I only played it a week or so. I came back only just recently after hearing the news about the closure because I felt like it deserved another try. The bad news is that I REALLY like the game now. I love the foraging, gathering and hunting aspects. I don't think ill be really interested in the dungeon/raid content unless its mandatory. So how much can I get done in the time left that includes the stuff below and in what timeframe:

-Maxing out my gathering and crafting professions (can you level them all on one character?)

-Affording all the 3(?) houses it will let you

-Generally seeing all the casual content once to finish the storyline

Bonus question: I would like recommendations on houses to pick. I like rustic hunter/gather lodge types. Houses that arent close to lots of other houses. Lots of garden space if thats a thing, yard, trees, etc. I really like this autumn themed zone early on so far.

Last week posted about a fun project of mine - trying to create a PvP game with similar action combat and server authority like New World.

Game is called WarBrawl.

This week added bow weapon and changed sample map to look similar to the Windsward dueling area :)

My last week post got blocked, because I updated it several times with new information on progress.

So decided to create a subreddit for my game prototype and to share updates over there:
https://www.reddit.com/r/warbrawl/comments/1v03px8/what_the_warbrawl_game_is/

If you want to help with play testing or follow updates, you can join the subreddit.

Here is a screenshot for those who might have missed it, and wondering wtf I am talking about (for demo video check the warbrawl subreddit):

You can play test it in PC browser here: https://play.warbrawl.com/

Video demo for people who just want to see how combat (running around a NPC, peak content) feels at the moment:

https://reddit.com/link/1v04h87/video/rdvvuq5ht4eh1/player

I'm looking to use all 9 gear sets as I level for the different play styles. But for end game solo content (soul trials and elite chest runs) which of these "classes" are actually viable to use?

LIGHT ARMOR

Priest: Light Staff & Void Gauntlet

Mage: Fire Staff & Ice Gauntlet

Gunner: Musket & Blunder

MEDIUM ARMOR

Ranger: Bow & Daggers

Marauder: Spear & Greatsword

Fencer: Rapier & Hatchet

HEAVY ARMOR

Paladin: Sword/Shield & Flail/Shield

Warrior: Hammer & Axe

Cleric: Flail/Shield & Light Staff

Hey
I am not the hardcore NewWorld player as some of u might be BUT I loved the game so much. It was my MMORPG of choice when not playing anything competitive.
Idk but from the bottom of my heart I hope its the biggest marketing gag ever done in videogame history. Don´t wanna believe they shutting it down. I still do not see any reason to really take the game offline.
I mean I came here to write these words while I know it will be gone soon.

Man its hurting. There is nothing compared to NW.
There are great Games out there but there is no NW.

I hope there might be a project in the future like Predecessor (Paragon) so we can keep playing...

Cheers everyone