Ultima Online to Receive Upgrade in 2007

Logan Frederick

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Aug 19, 2006
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Ultima Online to Receive Upgrade in 2007

Ultima Online producer Aaron Cohen posts a letter on Ultima Online's website revealing details for a new game client.

Nearly a month prior to Ultima Online's [http://www.uo.com/] ninth anniversary, Electronic Arts has announced a rebuild to the Ultima Online client that has been in development for the past eight months.

Although first announced to current players through an in-game event, a public letter to Ultima fans on uo.com [http://www.uo.com/uokr/UOKR/UOKR.html] revealed that the client will be a complete overhaul featuring improved graphics and a smoother user interface. Accounts will remain unaffected by the client upgrade and the small jump in the system specs is unlikely to push out any players using a modern PC. The client's official title is Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn, and a teaser video [http://www.uo.com/kingdomreborn.html] was linked to from an on-site FAQ [http://www.uo.com/fiveonfriday1.html].

According to MMOGChart.com [http://www.mmogchart.com/], Ultima Online subscriptions peaked at about 250,000 in early 2003 and have steadily declined to around 135,000 paid subscribers [http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2.html], 70,000 of which are Japanese users [http://www.mmogchart.com/Analysis.html]. Ultima Online currently holds 1.1% of the total MMO market share [http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html]. Ultima Online producer Aaron Cohen has stated that the majority of questions will be answered within the year and Kingdom Reborn will be released sometime in 2007.

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