After joking about buying Amazon MMO New World, Rust boss says to "keep hope" as he signs NDA with an "unnamed company"

A new statement from the head of Rust developer Facepunch Studios has once again sparked hopes that canceled Amazon MMO New World could have a route to salvation. After jokingly making an offer for the rights to the MMORPG, Alistair McFarlane has now revealed that he's signing a non-disclosure agreement with an "unnamed company" and won't be talking about "anything related" to the party in question for the foreseeable future. New World players are convinced their game is the most likely possible candidate, although McFarlane cautions that it's "just conversations" and that people should "have low expectations" for now.

McFarlane whipped the New World community into a frenzy a couple of weeks ago when he off-handedly tagged Amazon Games on X with a comment of "25m, final offer" during a discussion about plans to shut down the New World: Aeternum servers in January 2027. He followed it up by stating, "Games should never die," and suggested that if he were to actually strike such a deal he'd want to "empower the community. Give them control, make servers publicly hostable. A game will live forever in the hands of a dedicated community."

A few days later, McFarlane took to his LinkedIn page to comment, "That escalated quickly. What started off as a joke between a colleague and me on X quickly took on a life of its own. I genuinely appreciate everyone who's reached out over the last few days, including current and former Amazon Games staff who have offered their support and insight." He also added, "Sometimes a joke just opens the door to a bigger conversation, or new ventures?"

"I, and many staff at Facepunch, have a ton of love for New World," McFarlane says. "It had a rough start to life, and in my view, didn't receive the long-term support it could and should have. It had true momentum for a while to be a true evergreen game. The response alone shows there is still real passion and fan support around the game. It's hard not to feel it was a title that had more runway left."

He also remarks that Facepunch is "always looking at new opportunities. We want to work with games and studios we genuinely love, and we believe strongly in supporting communities and the people behind them. We'll always be community first." It's a strategy that's borne Rust to impressive success, with hundreds of thousands of players checking in daily on Steam a decade after it first launched.

In his newest message, McFarlane writes, "Going to be signing an MNDA with [Unnamed Company], this is the end of my communications for the foreseeable future on anything related to [Unnamed Company] Games. That just means any discussions going forward stay private, which is standard and expected. Nothing more than that. No deals, no announcements, just conversations. Keep hope, but have low expectations."

McFarlane does not state who the MNDA (mutual non-disclosure agreement) is with; indeed, it's quite possible he's not able to. But given the lead-up to this moment, and his previous posting of a 'loading bar' gif to people asking him if anything was happening with New World, Amazon Games does seem the most likely candidate.

For now, it's all rumors and speculation, and McFarlane himself is eager to stress that players shouldn't get their hopes up too high quite yet. With the shock return of Hytale this month following its cancellation by Riot Games, I'm willing to believe that anything is possible, but there are too many factors at play to write this one in the books at the moment. It'd certainly be another surprising twist in New World's tale.