Ultima Online Is On Steam Greenlight (And So Is DAoC)

Broadsword

A short news update on the Ultima Online website announces that the game has been added to Steam Greenlight; you can go and vote whether the game should be made available in the Steam catalogue.

(The other game that transferred from Mythic to Broadsword Online Games, Dark Age of Camelot, is also on Greenlight.)

I think it’s time to haul out the Veggies again:

veggie-tales-what-does-it-mean

It’s not entirely clear what Broadsword’s angle is here…is this just an attempt to expand the audience of both games? Does a move toward Steam signal a break from EA’s Origin storefront? Will the games — or time codes and assorted bits of content for them, at least — be available via both storefronts? Will one or both games be moving to a free-to-play model?

And what about UO’s dual-client support? One can’t see Steam allowing Broadsword to get away with offering two separate UO game clients for download; are the days of the Classic Client numbered?

Steam does offer a few advantages: a cheaper maintenance and update pipeline, anti-cheating technology, and a lot of visibility. Coupled with an artwork update (which has been planned for a while now) and an overhauled UI, it could be something…and would furnish Broadsword with an additional revenue stream.

3 Responses

  1. Sanctimonia says:

    I don’t know what sort of requirements or functionality restrictions a standard Steam game distribution has, but I am surprised UO wasn’t already on it. Wider platform operability for UO can only help it. The cannons need fodder, and the UO team needs to debug, refine and expand the client/server engine.

    I don’t think UO should be rewritten, but it should be improved with deep cuts if necessary to evolve it. A new game it need not be, as it is very well conceived.

    • Infinitron says:

      EA stopped putting their games on Steam after the Dragon Age 2 DLC kerfuffle.

      This is a very, very unusual move.

      • Sanctimonia says:

        Hmm. Vaguely familiar with that.

        Something I thought of though was that EA has their own digital distribution service in Origin, and may be hesitant to allow their products on a competing platform even if it had greater market exposure. Maybe this is a sign that EA is having some doubts about Origin as a viable platform?