The latest Ultima Online newsletter — you can subscribe at UO.com, if you like — contains a number of significant updates, especially concerning Publish 108 (which is due to be released in the next few months):

Publish 108 will mark the first publish of this year!  We have been working on some great content for 108 that includes IDOC changes, new Veteran Rewards, Ultima Store Items, and PvP Balancing Changes.

One of the first upcoming changes we would like to discuss is about IDOC houses.  We have heard a great deal of feedback regarding IDOCs and would like to share the following changes that will be coming in Publish 108,

• The current decay state of the house will no longer be displayed on the house sign.
• The house owner will receive a message when stepping onto the steps of the house as to the current decay status of the house.

We have some great Veteran Rewards and Ultima Store Items included in Publish 108 as well.  Publish 108 is currently scheduled for World Wide deployment in March so be sure check out the sections below to learn more!

As mentioned we have been working on some PvP Balancing Changes that are already in testing.  If you haven’t had a chance to check them out, head over to the UO Forums and join the conversation!

However, there’s a paragraph further down in the newsletter that has been attracting some added attention from the gaming press:

So what else is in store for UO this year?  The team has spent the better part of January thinking about what the future of Britannia looks like.  For over two decades players from all over the world have been part of the Ultima Online experience.  Those players have forged a legacy that will live on for generations.  For those who have been part of that legacy, you know the joy and excitement that comes with calling yourself a Britannian.  To build on that legacy and bring Ultima Online to the largest audience ever, the team is in the early stages of designing and building our biggest and boldest endeavor in over a decade!  We are incredibly excited about the future and cannot wait to share the journey with you!

Now, this is entirely speculative, and is not based on any additional information beyond what is in the newsletter, but it would seem that there are two ways in which Ultima Online could really expand its audience on the scale that seems to be implied here. The first would be to bring Ultima Online to Steam (it was Greenlit there back in 2014), and with relations between EA and Valve improving lately, there is possibility there now which didn’t exist even a couple years prior. The other option, though, would be for Broadsword to do for Ultima Online what Jagex did for RuneScape, which is to bring the game to mobile. Based on the phrasing above (“largest audience ever”), a jump to mobile seems more likely, since the mobile gaming market is about as big as the console and PC gaming markets combined.

Again, that’s speculative. We will know, one way or the other, by the end of the year.