New World's Fresh Start servers offer "old and new players a chance to completely restart their experience"
UPDATE: Player count soars to best this year.
UPDATE 7/11/22: Amazon MMO New World has seen its player count reinvigorated, thanks to the game's recent Fresh Start update, a Steam sale, and a Twitch promotion.
Player numbers have been given a significant boost - up from a peak of around 48,000 people logging on each day to more than 130,000 - and still rising.
The leap in player activity comes alongside a Twitch drop promotion and a half price sale on Steam. Player numbers began spiking on the 2nd November - some time after the game's recent Brimstone Sands update went live on 18th October.
All in all, it's great news for the Amazon MMO, which launched brightly last autumn but saw its popularity wane by the start of the year.
ORIGINAL STORY 5/11/22: Amazon's New World "Fresh Start" servers are now live and to celebrate, you can now buy the MMO for 50 per cent off the usual retail price on Steam.
Whilst the "fresh" part of the moniker suggests this is a deal that should primarily interest lapsed players, Amazon says the "new servers will offer old and new players a chance to completely restart their New World experience as pre-existing high-level characters cannot be transferred in".
"It’s a great opportunity for new and lapsed players to experience all that has changed over the game's first year," the team said.
Jump in now and Amazon says you'll get "to enjoy a completely revamped early game experience", new weapons like the Void Gauntlet and Blunderbuss, less travelling now that early quests have been grouped together, and an "easier" levelling experience, too, "meaning less grinding and a huge improvement to the overall pacing".
"Following the release of Brimstone Sands (which went live on 18th October) and Fresh Start Worlds, now is the best time to start your adventure in Aeternum," Amazon says.
Amazon Games recently celebrated one whole year of New World with a snazzy new infographic that showcased "key highlights from the launch", including confirmation that at the time of its anniversary, New World players had collectively clocked up 569m in-game hours.