Ultima Online

In truth, Ultima Online is the one Ultimas I have the least on-hand experience. I have tried it, but that is really as far as it goes, as I've never really had an affinity towards MMORPGs. That said, with Ultima Online Richard Garriott was again trailblazing despite EA, the same little liked publisher and then owner of Origin had zero faith in the prototype that was about to change the face of gaming for good.

After Garriott was done with Ultima 8 and in midst of the production of Ultima 9, he had noticed the advancements of the world wide web. Since the early online games, Garriott and the other developers at Origin had been wondering about the possibility of an online Ultima game and with the rapid rise of the Internet, that began to seem like a genuine possibility. The problem was, that there were no other games like what they were thinking, so EA was reluctant to make a bet on its success.

After several pitches by Garriott and Starr Long, EA finally grudgingly cave in and allowed Origin to spend an extra 250k in building a prototype. What it basically meant, that Garriott's dream game was a b-project, that got people only if other big titles, like Wing Commander or the main Ultima series, didn't need staff. This all changed, down to how EA saw the game after the beta was finally launched in 1997.

As Garriott and his team had used their 250k they didn't have funds to actually send the beta disks to potential players. So they opted to open a website and asked anyone interested in taking part in the beta a nominal 5 dollar investment. Within a week, they had over 50k buyers. That made EA cream their proverbial pants, as beta alone made back its budget. This also meant, that EA, palms sweaty, made Ultima Online into a spearhead title, down to asking Garriott if Ultima 9, what was to become the final entry in the main series, was even necessary anymore. Surely, MMORPGs were the next big thing.

As Garriott had been working with Ultima 9 for over a year by that point, he understandably told EA to stuff it when he was asked to cancel the title. He was adamant at developing and publishing both titles, came hell or high water. But as EA now saw Ultima Online their most precious title, what had been previously the role of Ultima 9, the tables were turned and single-player series got their diminishing attention.

After the successful beta, Ultima Online was finally released to the masses. Within six months, the once bastard title of Origin's had reached 100k subscribers. This kind of rush obviously caused server lags, which lead to the opening of the continent and country-specific servers to ease the load.

While Online was a success story for EA, Garriott had had it with EA. After the release of Ultima 9, he finally left the company in 2000, taking his alter ego Lord British with him. This also meant that the character left from Ultima Online as well and the fans were left writing fanfiction of the departure of the series creator. But his real reason for leaving was, that after EA had bought Origin, the core of the studio had changed and he didn't feel he could do what he wanted anymore with the big parent company breathing down his neck.

Electronic Arts kept the ball rolling, releasing several expansions for the title. In 1998, the first major expansion for the game had been released, still under the watch of Garriott. The Second Age, as it was called, had added new areas and quests for the players and EA wanted to keep that up, so in 2000, Ultima Online: Renaissance was released. It improved the graphics and again increased the landmass and added new content to play.

Happy with the money earned, EA kept the series chugging along. Around 2003, the game reached its peak subscribers in around 250k players. But despite all the development, the base began to dwindle down, as we're and better games were coming along. In 2004, a little know MMORPG called World of Warcraft came out, so that might have something to do with players slowly migrating away. As for Origin, the developer that had been the home for Ultima-series since the 3rd game was unceremoniously shut down by EA and the development of Ultima Online was given to another team.

In 2006, EA finally tasked Mythic Entertainment to take care of Ultima Online. Before that, EA had released a couple of expansions, but with Mythic, they hoped to boost the game, as they were developers of well-received MMOPRG the Dark Age of Camelot, another title that is surprisingly still going on.

Mythic ran the title till 2014, after which the reigns were given to Broadsword. The latest big addition was made in 2015 with the release of Time of Legends, which again added new content. But other than that, they have been more or less just keeping the game up to date and patching it up as need has arisen. Another big change is, that nowadays Ultima Online is free to play games, like many other MMORPGs because of the over-saturation of the market. But still, it is rather remarkable, that the game which at first held zero respect at EA, is still going on. 

Ultima Online was the first in many things, including being the first online-only game to reach a 100k player base. Of course, now it has fallen far from its peak of a quarter a million players, but if online metrics are to be trusted, it still gathers around 10k of loyal monthly players. It is a far cry from the still over 2 million players Word of Warcraft still manages to get, but all things considered, for a game that is now over twenty years old, it is a bit amazing it still is played at all. Or that it even is inactive maintenance.

With the history of the game, even if you doubt the fit of some of the 9 expansions made for the game, there should be a lot to play for any new player interested in giving Ultima Online a spin. I don't know how actively the current developer holds events for the game, but it is still up and running for anyone wanting to give it a go. For how long, I have no idea, but I guess, I should really give it a proper try before it completely dies out. 

As for the single-player series, that died with Ultima 9. After Garriott left EA, the publisher had little interest in pursuing the series as a single-player game. As they saw it, the future was online and in a sense, that isn't really any different from what Garriott seems to believe even now, considering the games he has been attached to. 

Shroud of the Avatar was, and still is despite being in development, a failed attempt in marrying a single-player game to a genuine MMORPG. The Kickstarted title is a result of Garriott trying to please two vastly different player segments, one which was expecting him to return to single-player style, the other which expected another Ultima Online. In the end, he ended up not pleasing really either. But he still seems adamant at trying to re-create something similar he did with Ultima Online. I don't think he cares for the single-player experience any longer.

The info about Ultima Online is from the nice Retro Tea Break-interview of Garriott by RetroManCave. And Wikipedia, obviously.