"Only Nostradamus could have foreseen it": fans unsurprised by New World Season 5 delay

The release of New World Season 5, "Season of The Guardian," got delayed indefinitely a week ahead of its intended launch date - something many players had feared. There is no indication yet when the revised release window should be expected, and the fanfare is dwindling fast.

Season 5 presents a promise for long-awaited animation system changes that will help all aspects of the gameplay, making this delay even more disappointing. A dev blog post officially announced the postponement this week, shedding some light on the cause.

The chief reason seems to be the redressal of "issues identified through the PTR and internal tests," but some in the player community are having none of it. New World players are acclimatized to these last-minute rollbacks and had the prophetic expectation of this Season 5 delay.

Reddit user u/tanjolaJulien relayed the common mock-gasp of skeptic fans in the announcement thread on the New World subreddit, saying:

"What a surprise! Only Nostradamus could have foreseen it."

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New World Season 5 delay was predictable but disappointing for the community

Season 5 Delayed byu/thegodlypenguin2 innewworldgame

This is not Amazon Game's first rodeo juggling with delays and disappointed fans. In fact, the ongoing season itself was delayed in a very similar fashion, with the developer finding "unresolved issues" at the last moment and postponing the launch of Season 4 indefinitely.

Regarding the Season 5 delay, the overwhelming diagnosis on the announcement thread in the New World subreddit is unanimous: the development crew is too small.

Comment byu/thegodlypenguin2 from discussion innewworldgame

Comment byu/thegodlypenguin2 from discussion innewworldgame

Reddit user u/CatDistributionSystem perfectly sums up the community sentiment regarding the announcement, pointing out how delays were a part of the New World 2024 roadmap.

Comment byu/thegodlypenguin2 from discussion innewworldgame

A few commenters on the Reddit thread expressed a more positive stance on the delay, implying that it means Season 5 will be released with a better state of game polish.

Comment byu/thegodlypenguin2 from discussion innewworldgame

On the other hand, the barebones seasonal content drop with Season of The Guardian is a counterpoint to why the developers "need more time." What little surprise is left comes not from the delay but from how Amazon Games managed to delay the release of "basically nothing."

Comment byu/thegodlypenguin2 from discussion innewworldgame

This delay compounds the mixed reception of the new artifacts coming with Season of The Guardian, two of which have been subjected to multiple balance changes throughout the PTR phase in February.

Comment byu/thegodlypenguin2 from discussion innewworldgame

All in all, the delay will certainly adversely affect the eventual Season 5 launch.

As mentioned earlier, the blog post announcing the delay did not mention when we can expect the new Season 5 launch window. There is one consolation prize, though: you can still download the PTR client to check out some of the major changes in Season of The Guardian.