Since its launch in September 2021, New World has attracted millions of players worldwide, achieving peak concurrent users (CCU) exceeding 900,000 shortly after release and maintaining strong community engagement. The game also earned positive critical reception with an aggregate Metacritic score of 75, reflecting its broad appeal within the MMORPG genre.
- Deep integration with Amazon Game Studios’ internal teams, mastering proprietary tools and pipelines
- Agile and scalable approach, adapting to evolving project requirements and tight timelines
- Full creative ownership of critical content including a flagship 10-player raid with original level, bosses, mechanics, and rewards
- Engineering leadership in multi-platform optimizations critical to New World’s console launch success
- Sustained collaboration since 2019 driving consistent delivery of high-quality content and technical excellence
For Amazon Game Studios, developing and growing New World posed a unique challenge: how to continuously expand the ambitious MMORPG on multiple platforms, deliver compelling new content, and maintain technical excellence, all without overextending their internal teams.
Virtuos became a trusted partner by consistently delivering quality content and completing more complex mandates over time. We have brought deep technical expertise, creative autonomy, and a global team that evolved alongside the project since before its launch in 2021.
The collaboration began in 2019 with Virtuos supporting Amazon Game Studios through character art and outfit creation, meeting tight deadlines for New World’s launch. Our teams rapidly scaled and adapted, building high-fidelity 2D and 3D assets that enriched the game’s vibrant world.
As trust grew, Virtuos Paris took on more complex responsibilities, designing and developing enemies, NPCs, and epic boss fights critical to the PvE experience. This mandate expanded to full ownership of all creature content, enabling Amazon Game Studios’ internal teams to focus on other priorities.
In 2023, Virtuos was entrusted with its most ambitious mandate to date: the complete end-to-end development of the Isle of Night raid for New World’s Season 10 Nighthaven expansion, scheduled for release in October 2025. Our Paris studio led this monumental task, delivering a fully realized new raid instance that pushes the boundaries of design and immersion for the game.
This encompassed:
- Complete level design for a complex, story-rich raid environment filled with puzzles and lore
- Design and in-depth development of three unique bosses with sophisticated AI behaviors, attack patterns, and custom animations
- Creation of new equipment sets and visual assets that harmonize with the raid’s unique aesthetic
- Full integration and iteration inside Amazon Game Studios’ proprietary Azoth engine to ensure seamless gameplay and technical optimization
Virtuos Paris took full ownership of an all-new 10-player raid instance for Season 10, Nighthaven.
In parallel, Virtuos teams in Lyon and Prague contributed crucial performance and UI optimizations in preparation for New World’s console launch. This included memory footprint reduction, CPU and GPU optimizations, and stabilization fixes, culminating in a significant 200MB RAM saving. Our engineers’ expertise helped Amazon Game Studios meet stringent performance targets while maintaining the game’s rich content and visual fidelity across platforms.
The success of this collaboration rests on Virtuos’ ability to intuitively understand Amazon Game Studios’ vision, seamlessly embed in their pipelines, and proactively deliver custom solutions to meet the team’s unique development challenges. From initial art mandates to full raid instance ownership, Virtuos has continuously demonstrated reliability, creativity, and technical mastery.
By empowering Amazon Game Studios to focus on new projects, Virtuos has proven itself as a powerhouse co-development partner for long-term live service growth.
Virtuos’ partnership with Amazon Game Studios extended beyond art and design to encompass holistic development support. Our multidisciplinary teams collaborated closely with Amazon Game Studios’ designers, engineers, and artists to ensure every element, from quest narratives and encounter pacing to environmental storytelling and user interface, aligned perfectly with New World’s evolving vision.
This integrated approach allowed Virtuos to provide innovative design ideas early in the development cycle, anticipate technical challenges, and propose solutions that enhanced both gameplay and production efficiency. By working hand-in-hand with Amazon Game Studios’ internal teams, Virtuos fostered a seamless co-development environment that encouraged knowledge-sharing and rapid iteration across regions and disciplines.
As a live-service MMO, New World requires ongoing content expansion and technical improvements to keep the player base engaged over time. Virtuos rose to this challenge by establishing flexible, scalable teams capable of responding to Amazon Game Studios’ dynamic needs.
From rapidly prototyping new gameplay features and encounters to optimizing existing content for performance and player experience, Virtuos contributed critical resources that helped Amazon Game Studios maintain momentum for successive seasons. Our proactive involvement in both creative and engineering aspects ensured New World’s world and systems remain fresh, high-quality, and technically robust, supporting live-service longevity without increasing permanent internal headcount.
“The team at Virtuos has been a team of great collaborators who are always transparent with their process and progress, always striving for and meeting a high bar. I look forward to our continued partnership with this great team of developers.”
Senior Producer, Amazon Game Studios
Virtuos is proud to be a key creative and technical partner in New World’s ongoing journey, collaboratively expanding and elevating the world of Aeternum, without the resource strain of expanding Amazon Game Studios’ internal teams. We look forward to further innovation and success alongside the Amazon Game Studios team in the future.
