Ultima Online still going strong, says lead designer
by Rubi Bayer 
Oct 30th 2009 at 3:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, News items, Ultima Online
Ultima Online has "got a very core player base, and not a small one", says Cotten. A good MMO will earn player loyalty no matter how long it's around, and Ultima Online is still enjoying that player base after twelve years. They recently invited former players to return for a couple of free weeks, and new content is still a feature -- the eighth expansion was just released in September. Cotten hints at lots more to come too: "UO itself, if you want to go for a historical timeline, we're only around Ultima VI; we've got tons more of content left to play with."
It looks like there's definitely something to be said for old favorites. Keep it up, UO!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rollins said on 4:04PM 10-30-2009
You know what would be cool? A sequel.
Oh wait, they tried that. Twice.
Sigh.
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max said on 4:07PM 10-30-2009
I'd be interested to know exactly what their subscriber numbers currently are. If they are still so confident in their game then they should release that info, otherwise this is probably just PR "talk".
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Cinnamoon said on 4:47PM 10-30-2009
It needs to be pointed out that the screenshot with this article is from the Kingdom Reborn Client which was scrapped last month. The game just doesn't look like that right now, though I wish it still did. Most players still use the Classic Client (which looks as it does 12 years ago, that is to say, like crap). The only other current option is the Enhanced Client, which is a hybrid of mostly Classic graphics and Kingdom Reborn's architecture and interface.
As a long-time player (off and on since the beginning) I am the first to admit the game has had rocky spots (that'd be why I haven't played straight through since the beginning -- I de-sub when it goes poorly. But over the last year, this current dev team has really turned it around. The expansion is a huge success. The real "problem child" for the team is finding a client that they have the follow-through to make functional and that their mostly-luddite playerbase will tolerate. If they can do that, they can go another 12 years. If not...
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Khai Mann said on 5:06PM 10-30-2009
This MMO has always fascinated me. I'm also a big Ultima fan so that might be the reason for that interest.
From what I've read on Wikipedia their current sub numbers average at around 100.000 to 120.000 witch is definitely not bad in my opinion.
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Brian! said on 11:09PM 10-30-2009
I logged back in to be surprised to find probably the best in-game community out of all the myriad MMOs I jump around in. In fact, some old friends showed up as well. As I was the first Grandmaster smith on my shard, I was recognized in the new Milas bank gathering area within 15 minutes of making my way there. There were about 50 people who came to meet me (and give me stuff to "upgrade" my abilities).
I don't know if that would have happened in any other MMO. There is something about the simplicity, housing and hording of items that makes UO rather unique. It even seems most people don't run around fighting, questing or things like that. But they do decorate their houses and socialize quite a lot!
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