New World from Amazon Games is a bonafide hit, and it seems as though the studio anticipated meme enthusiasts would be into it. Since, well, you can’t name a character after Amazon’s founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, PC Gamer Reported Tuesday.
Neither “Bezos” nor “Amazon” can appear in character names at all. The same goes for variations like “Bez0s,” “JeffB,” or “Be Zos” as all give a message claiming they “cannot be used” — Amazon Games clearly gave this a lot of thought. It’s not uncommon for MMORPGs to disallow specific names from the get-go, though.
For example, Final Fantasy XIV won’t let players name their characters “Cloud Strife” because that’s the protagonist from Final Fantasy VII. Of course, loads of offensive slurs and bigoted language are never allowed in these sorts of games either. But the founder of a game’s parent company? That’s a new one.
It's time to #PlayNewWorld!
Join the ⚔️ fight for ⛰️Aeternum and discover the supernatural wonders that await around every corner! pic.twitter.com/KfZGD3pEOY
— New World (@playnewworld) September 28, 2021
It’s not terribly surprising that Amazon Games want to quell any potential memes before they happen, though, as the studio doesn’t have the best track record. Its first effort was a team-based brawler Breakaway that got canceled before it came out. Then last year, Crucible came out to scathing reviews before being quickly shut down. So yeah, New World is the studio’s first success story. Thus far, anyway.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
