Rust director makes a public '25 million' offer to buy axed Amazon MMO New World, because "games should never die"

The clock on New World: Aeternum is officially ticking, with developer Amazon Games announcing that there’s just one year left before its ambitious MMORPG is taken offline forever. But there’s potentially a small spark of hope; Alistair McFarlane, COO and director of Rust dev Facepunch Studios, has made a public statement to Amazon Games suggesting he’d be prepared to pay ’25 million’ for the rights.

Amazon announced in October 2025 that it was halting plans to make anything new for New World: Aeternum moving forward. Despite achieving one of the biggest Steam peaks we’ve ever seen when it launched, it’s failed to reach anywhere near those heights since, despite temporary player count spikes after its Aeternum rebrand and when it made its Rise of the Angry Earth expansion free to all players. This week, Amazon confirmed that New World would be delisted on Thursday January 15, meaning it’s already been removed from sale, and that servers will be fully taken offline on Sunday, January 31, 2027.

If you already own a copy of New World, you’re free to download and play it for the remaining time, though you’ll be stuck in limbo on the Nighthaven season for the full twelve months. There’s a unique feeling to spending time in a community you know won’t last forever, so I wouldn’t be too shocked to see players making the most of the days and weeks they have left, even if it’s to organize where they’ll all meet up next year.

But could we see New World live on beyond that deadline in a different form, thanks to an offer of salvation from Rust’s creative director? It’s a faint dream, but after the surprise return of Hytale, I’m willing to believe anything is possible. Rust continues to sit among Steam’s most-played a full decade after launch, suggesting McFarlane is likely able to back up his offhand remark of “25m, final offer @amazongames,” which he posted on X. It’s worth noting that Facepunch is a UK-based studio, so the currency of that ’25 million’ could be up for debate.

Quite how sincere the offer is also remains to be seen – McFarlane’s post comes as a reply to Facepunch community director ‘Errn’ writing, “I tried to get Ali to buy [New World] for me but he told me to fuck off.” However, he does directly tag Amazon Games in the post, and follows it up by simply stating, “Games should never die.”

Hytale co-founder (and now owner once more) Simon Collins-Laflamme naturally takes a moment to chip in, saying “If you need tips about buying canceled games, let me know.” Just six months after his announcement that he was attempting to re-purchase the rights to Hytale from Riot Games, it’s already out in early access and proving a real winner among the community.

Keep in mind that, even if this New World takeover were to happen, it likely wouldn’t be some grand revival. Asked what he’d actually do with the project, McFarlane responds, “As with everything we do at Facepunch, empower the community. Give them control, make servers publicly hostable. A game will live forever in the hands of a dedicated community.”

Joke or not, the sentiment is certainly very real. While New World never met the lofty expectations it was set, there will be many who are sad to see it go, and it’d be a shame if there was no official way to preserve a server for those that wanted to stick with it.