Ultima Online Under New Operations
Broadsword Online Games, Inc.
In the latest Ultima Online Producer’s Letter, Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong delivered some unexpected news.
Beginning February 1st, 2014, Mythic Entertainment Co-Founder Rob Denton’s new studio: Broadsword Online Games (http://www.broadsword.com) will partner with EA’s Mythic Entertainment to operate, support and develop Ultima Online on EA’s behalf. Electronic Arts will continue to provide billing and account services through its Origin™ portal. Broadsword and Electronic Arts will work closely together to ensure a bright future for Ultima Online.
Additionally, in the Questions & Answers section of the Producer’s Letter, there are some interesting tidbits:
- Broadsword Online Games is not an Electronic Arts studio. However, for purposes of Ultima Online, Broadsword will be operating the game on EA’s behalf to continue its success
- Players will continue to access UO through EA’s Origin™ portal. There will be no interruption or change in the payment service.
- The UO Development Team *will* be changing. Broadsword’s additional investment into UO provides the freedom to expand their resources for bigger projects.
So, the production staff seems to think this change means great things for the future of Ultima Online. Bonnie even goes on to say “the future has never looked so bright!” However, Broadsword is a very small team, only 14 individuals, and are now maintaining both Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. I’m skeptical, but willing to wait to see how future updates are handled before making a decision.
Sounding a lot like UO’s last chance. Just hope Broadsword don’t screw things up.
I tried to get back into UO, but I think it’s not only EA, it’s also part of the community that holds it back (for some reason I cannot understand). I think a little almost independent team could do a lot of good for UO. It’s in desperate need of an engine overhaul. But nothing half-a**ed like before. I am not talking about first person view of course. Just make the iso view nicer to attract newer players. The game itself is still amazing.
Just like nobody achieved the brilliance of Ultima VI and VII in terms of single player RPG I also think nobody really captured all the magic of UO in another MMO. All my personal opinion of course 🙂
I did get back into UO about a year ago, and still have an active account. The trouble was, it was really hard for me to advance as a new character on a shard full of 11+ year veterans. In the game, the only way to advance (make significant coin that is) is to sell things, either that you made, or that you recovered from treasure hunts (which I got quite good at). Unfortunately, what you find is that as a newer player, you literally have nothing that anyone needs, nor any chance of having access to anything anyone needs. And when someone does need something, they just character transfer onto Atlantic to get it. It’s really frustrating and kind of made it impossible for me to engage in the economy and by extension enjoy the game after a certain point.