The development team switched again in 2014, this time to newly founded EA studio Broadsword.

Mythic didn’t just sit on the title and do nothing - they continued to develop and expand the game, releasing the Kingdom Reborn client with updated graphics and later, the Stygian Abyss expansion that added new zones, mechanics and a new map. Ultima Online was one of many MMOs being trampled by Blizzard’s behemoth. According to, by April 2008, Ultima Online’s market share was less than 0.06% (around 75,000 players), compared with World of Warcraft’s 62%. In 2006, EA handed development responsibility over to Dark Age of Camelot developer Mythic Entertainment. Electronic Arts had closed Origin Systems in February 2004, leaving Ultima Online without a developer. What is certain, however, is that by the time the third generation of MMOs began in 2004 (most notably with World of Warcraft), Ultima Online was experiencing a steady decline. Slate reported in 2003 that Ultima Online still maintained 225,000 subscribers, but reported numbers are scarce after that. Source: UO.com.Īs the core business of MMO games is to provide vast, vibrant and populated worlds, specific player numbers are often difficult to come by, particularly when an MMO game is past its prime. This would be Ultima Online’s peak popularity. Numbers continued to rise into the early 2000s - in October 2000, CNET Gamecenter reported that Ultima Online had reached 250,000 subscribers. Three months after its September 1997 release, Ultima Online had achieved 70,000 subscribers, and by December 1998 it was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first MMORPG to reach 100,000 players. They had previously been referred to by several different names, most commonly “graphical MUD”, an evolution of the “Multi-User Domain” term that emerged after Beyond Software’s Neverwinter Nights (1991) added a visual element to the historically text-based MUDs of the '70s and '80s. Richard “Lord British” Garriott, creator of the Ultima series, allegedly coined the term “MMORPG” in 1997 (like much of gaming history, this is shrouded in ambiguity). No game better defined the MMORPG genre than Ultima Online - quite literally, in fact. Source: Museum of Computer Adventure Game History.

Ultima online world map