[Interview] Amazon Games Senior Producer On New World Season 5 Update & June's Big Announcement

New World Season 5 is finally out, bringing some of the major updates to the game, including the much-awaited native controller support, changes to cooking progression, and much more. Apart from this, new Seasonal Trial, artifacts, events, etc., will also be making their way to the game.

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To get a deep dive into the New World Season 5 update, we sat down with Katy Kaszynski, Senior Producer at Amazon Games, to discuss their goals for the new season, a surprise announcement in June, and more. You can find the complete interview below.

New World Interview With Katy Kaszynski, Senior Producer At Amazon Games

First of all, congratulations on the successful Season 4 and now, the team is gearing up for the release of Season 5. What are your expectations and goals for the same? Also, how have been the response and feedback that you received from the PTR?

Katy: Initial PTR feedback showed that combat felt a bit slower than our players are used to; we addressed those concerns and deployed changes to the PTR ahead of an Outpost Rush playtest where developers joined players in the PTR, and the combat felt in parity with S4. Related, players can look toward a communication from us on what we addressed as a direct result of their PTR participation and feedback.

The update is bringing multiple major changes to cooking, Main Story Quest, and more. Are there any major challenges you faced during Season of the Guardian's development?

Katy: Design wise, Cooking is the first tradeskill we looked to simplify. We faced some challenges in tackling how to reduce the amount of items in the game without players feeling like we were taking away progress. We found a solve we were happy with in exchanging these items for items of equivalent or greater value. Biggest challenge after that was trying to know if we went far enough or could've gone further, but we're looking for feedback to help guide further iteration.

Another challenge we faced was making the Fishing tradeskill feel more valuable as a result of these changes. We decreased the odds of catching Legendary Fish and made them the primary ingredient in the best food in the game. This is disruptive to people who really enjoy fishing, but it results in their time having a higher coin value which nets out to a positive for those players.

Talking a bit more about the Main Story Quest, what exactly was kept in mind while updating them for Season 5?

Katy: Rebuilding the section of the Main Story between the confrontation with Thorpe and Isabella, basically level 50-60+, was our focus. The Main Story now takes players for a much more elaborate and compelling tour of Ebonscale Reach, and then brings them into Shattered Mountain where they learn more about Isabella's past, and the enigmatic Father Russo, as they work with allies to end her campaign of corruption.

A much-awaited feature, i.e. controller support, is coming with Season 5 with two presets. When can we expect mapping to arrive in the future for it? 

Katy: Controller support has been an ask from our Community for a while and we are excited to get this out into the wild! As far as controller mapping, rest assured that this is something we are working on, but there is no ETA to share right now. Stay tuned!

New World's anniversary is coming in a few months, any major plans that you have in store for us for this year?
Katy: We’re really proud of how far the game has come and are excited to share more about the future with our announcement in June!

There have been multiple delays that players are not happy about; for example, the announcement of the next roadmap has been delayed as well. Of course, there are challenges that you might encounter all of a sudden, but what steps are being taken to possibly avoid them in the future? 

Katy: It is never our intention to delay, but it can and does happen. The team strives to be as transparent as possible with our players, and that can mean providing information early which then may change. What we can promise is that as soon as we know a delay will occur, we will let our players know so that they can plan accordingly. 

We have seen a trend of player numbers decreasing after a few weeks of an update getting released and coming back to New World once a new update is out, and the difference is pretty significant. Do you guys have any plans for tackling this kind of dry period? 

Katy: Players can take part in some exciting events throughout the season, including Springtide Bloom and Rabbits Revenge, just to name a couple. 

You guys mentioned that you have some major plans this year that you can't reveal. However, can you give us a hint or maybe tease something? 

Katy: We are really excited for the big reveal - no spoilers just yet! 

Thank you for your time. Lastly, is there anything else that you would like to share with New World fans out there? 

Katy: Thanks for reaching out, the team is incredibly excited for upcoming Season of the Guardian, as well as the big announcement in June - and we hope our players are too! See you in Aeternum.