With the release of Amazon Games Studios’ largest offering to date, New World, is set to be a blockbuster for the relatively new studio but will the fantasy MMO game make a splash in the world of Esports, or will it simply be a casual game to play with friends? The New World Beta saw a peak player count of 141.5k concurrent players easily placing it among the top five most-streamed games of the day on Steam. So it’s not surprising former professional esports player Shroud managed to pull in over 156k concurrent viewers on his Twitch stream on the first official day of release.
So the question has to be asked: if a former Esports pro can bring in that large of an audience for regular gameplay, what kind of viewership could a New World Esports league garner, and could the game even exist in an Esports World?
Could New World Exist in the Esports World
New World is not an entirely unusual game. Players of World of WarCraft, Sky Rim, and even League Of Legends will find many similarities to the game. From armor and weapons scores to dungeon raids these are common features of various Esports games. League of Legends esports events, such as the League of Legends World Championship in 2019, have had record-breaking viewership of over 100 million individuals. Due to the similarities in game mechanics between League of Legends and New World, it would not be surprising to see a high demand for competitive play under this new title as well.
Twitch Viewership Is a Good Bench Mark For Success
Twitch is a very popular online live streaming service particularly focused on gaming. As I mentioned before on its first day of release Shroud gained over 156k real-time viewers. His average stream brings in 60k viewers. While streaming New World he more than doubled his average views. This speaks volumes to the game’s popularity and individuals’ desire to watch the game be played. And played at a high level.
I’d also like to give some perspective on how many people 156k really is. One of the newest stadiums in the NFL is the SoFi stadium in Los Angeles. This state-of-the-art facility can only seat 70k fans on any regular Sunday. Right now, in the afternoon, on Wednesday, Shroud still has 137k viewers. Let that sink in. Esports is a huge industry and New World could definitely exist as a major player in the space. If you are interested in checking out other esports players’ stats check out EsportMasters.
New World Is Good For Esports
One of the most obvious mechanics in New World would lend to its natural integration into the Esports sphere is its three different factions and their goal to conquer surrounding territories. New World allows players to choose from three different factions and fight to claim territory in their name. This leads naturally to large-scale military encounters between the factions where scores of players fight in real-time to capture or defend large portions of the games map. These raids would make for wildly entertaining esports content.
Conclusion
New World is a sprawling fantasy MMO with a vast player base and perhaps even deeper viewership. The game’s mechanics and similarities to other successful esports games make it a natural candidate to receive its own esports league.