Rust’s lead dev wants to pull a Hytale and rescue New World from Amazon’s clutches

A few months ago, New World got axed, sharing the fate of so many of its live-service brethren. And while the servers are still kicking, no new content will come to the game, and now Rust‘s lead dev wants to save it from certain doom, much like Hytale was back in November 2025.

New World had its development frozen last year, indicating a full-blown shutdown was soon to follow. Things remained calm for a spell, and the servers kept kicking, but Amazon has since delisted the game from all stores, preventing any further purchases. Servers are likely to be cut by early next year, if not earlier, marking the end of an ambitious project that was to dethrone World of Warcraft as the go-to MMO (something many had tried and failed to do over the years).

Alistair McFarlane, COO of Rust developer Facepunch, came out with a proposition to buy out the game from Amazon, saving it from being taken offline. He said on X that “games should never die,” and offered 25 million (probably GBP) for the game. So far, Amazon doesn’t seem to have responded to the public offer.

But one curious person did reply, Simon Collins-Laflamme, founder and original owner of Hytale, who rescued his own project from the clutches of Riot Games and its dubious development cycles. Hytale, after years in limbo at the company, was repurchased by Collins-Laflamme and finally released in early access. Being an expert on the topic of saving dead games, he offered McFarlane “tips on buying canceled games,” which could lead to a Hytale-style situation with New World.

How genuine and serious McFarlane’s offer is remains unknown, but it would certainly be a good thing for the market to save dying games if there’s any chance at saving them. Sure, I guess Amazon did its market analysis and saw New World‘s declining player base as unsalvageable, but perhaps it didn’t try as hard as it could, or had as much ambition as, say, Facepunch would.

We’ll have to wait and see if anything comes of this, but while negotiations continue in sooth or jokingly, New World continues to exist in stasis, awaiting the axe to finally drop after staring it down for months.

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Earth of Oryn could become the perfect January launch for those who are into city-building and resource management titles, and its release is almost here.

Originally meant for launch last year, we have had to wait till the first month of January. Earth of Oryn will be released exclusively on Steam, and this guide will help you keep track of the upcoming release.

Earth of Oryn release countdown

Earth of Oryn will be going live globally on Jan. 19. It’s unlikely that there will be any more delays at this late stage, and the following countdown will expire once the game goes live.

[hurrytimer id=”1167165″]

The countdown is based on the following timings.

• 8am PT
• 10am CT
• 11am ET
• 4pm UTC
• 5pm CET

You can wishlist Earth of Oryn as of writing. There’s no pre-purchase, so we will have to wait for the launch to go live before we can purchase. The timings mentioned here are based on the information available on SteamDB.

What to expect from Earth of Oryn

Earth of Oryn puts you in charge of starting a new town in Brandford and building it one block at a time. Place houses, roads, workshops, and markets for your townsfolk to survive and thrive. As your town expands, so will its population.

With a modular building system, you’ll be able to give a personal touch to your base. There are research and new technologies available for you to discover on your journey. From the town design to managing its people and resources, you’ll need to do it all. More features are expected to be added later down the line as Earth of Oryn spends more months in early access.

If you want to check it out, there’s a free demo currently available on Steam. While it’s very early access, the last time I played, it will undoubtedly give you a good overview of what to expect.

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