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Ultima X - Odyssey Development Cancelled

Posted by simoniker on from the ultimately-canned dept.

eToychest writes "According to a post by David Yeeon on the front page of the official EA site, PC MMO title Ultima X: Odyssey has been cancelled. The post reads: 'As of today, development on Ultima X: Odyssey has ended. We feel that Ultima Online is where we need to focus our online efforts and most of my team will be moving to the UO expansion pack, the UO live team, and an unannounced Ultima Online project.' It's too bad, but perhaps it was for the best." GameSpot sketches out the background, explaining: "The [August 2003-announced] game went through an evolution when its design and development staff were recently moved from EA's Austin, TX studio to the company's main Redwood Shores campus... UXO was to have picked up where the Ultima IX storyline left off", and GameSpy adds that the new Ultima Online expansion pack "will be officially revealed later this month at an EA press event."

43 comments

  1. Typical by Dizzle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Another day, another cancelled MMO game. We should stop reporting MMO's that get cancelled and start reporting the ones that don't!

    --
    -Dizzle
    "I most likely AM so interested in myself."
    1. Re:Typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. I just wish they silently developed the damn thing and when they are actually ready to show something significant to the world, THEN they can go ahead and get peoples expectations up.

    2. Re:Typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not only that, but this is the second Ultima MMORPG to be cancelled during development. That's gotta be some kind of record.

      Each time they say the original Ultima Online is where they need to keep their focus. Wait a year, we'll see this new project they mention being cancelled, and then the comment that they need to focus on the original Ultima Online.

      Ah, vicious circles. Gotta love em.

      In terms of UO:X being cancelled, it may be for the best. I have seen next to no hype for it, with the community following it seemingly small and quiet.

    3. Re:Typical by hords · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would just be happy with a non-buggy non-MMO Ulitma X RPG. Is that so much to ask for? EA buys Origin and then stops making what used to be one of the greatest selling RPGs. Not everyone wants to play MMO games. And certainly who wants to pay for more than one or two at a time.

    4. Re:Typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Various GameFAQs polls indicate that offline games are far more popular than online games, but sadly MMOs are a much safer income than traditional video games since the publisher can be sure that nearly every user bought an original.

    5. Re:Typical by SScorpio · · Score: 1

      I'd say the safer income isn't just in that each user bought an original, but with the $10-$15/month fee each user is paying. Have just 250,000 players pay $10/month = 2.5 Million a month or 30 Million a year. Sure there is the hardware, support staff, etc. However, the more popular a game gets the more revenue that comes in.

  2. Not Surprized... by TibbonZero · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They did the same thing (if not worse) UO2. Origin/EA/Whatever it is, has turned into a flakey company lately, that just can't deliver a good MMO to the market.

    If they would just start releasing the source to these games after the trash them, life would be so much better.
    Next up... Ultima: Not Gonna Happen.

    --
    Tibbon
    tibbon.com
    1. Re:Not Surprized... by Loadmaster · · Score: 3, Informative

      I agree. This has actually happened for a MMORPG. It's called Allegiance and was created by Microsoft.
      Gamespot gamespace here
      I'm very tempted to download it and see what the fans have done.

    2. Re:Not Surprized... by Jerf · · Score: 4, Funny

      There is no "Origin" anymore. That company has been dead for years. There is only a name, with little or no continuity of any kind.

      So, I'd modify your point to "Origin/EA/Whatever it is, has turned into a flakey company lately, that just can't deliver a good MMO to the market."... except that "turned into... lately" probably isn't justified either.

      "EA is a flakey company that just can't deliver a good game to market reliably" is something I can get behind.

      "Ultima X: Grand Theft Quake Dance Revolution" will be coming soon to a store near you! See the Avatar's focus-group-approved big tits! Hear eighty-two licensed tracks from Britney Spears! Test your virtue as you steal 57 varieties of palette-shifted dragons and wreak havoc on eight cities and assorted villages in the name of virtue!

      ("Ultima X: Grand Theft Quake Dance Revolution" has been cancelled in favor of the new UO expansion pack "Cow of Something Ultima-ish".)

      (All hail the Hoe of Destruction!)

    3. Re:Not Surprized... by Nasarius · · Score: 4, Insightful
      steal 57 varieties of palette-shifted dragons and wreak havoc on eight cities and assorted villages in the name of virtue!

      Man, Grand Theft Dragon would kick ass ;-)

      It's really startling how this is an exact repeat of what happened to UO2. Again the lame excuse of focusing on UO. Give it up, guys. UO is dead. You're not going to get any new subscribers.

      --
      LOAD "SIG",8,1
    4. Re:Not Surprized... by tod_miller · · Score: 2, Informative

      "Microsoft has released the full source code to its hybrid real-time strategy/space combat game, Allegiance. Despite critical acclaim, it failed to make much of an impact , selling fewer than 29,000 copies in its first year.

      Allegiance actually won the dubious honor of Best PC Game No One Played in 2000 from GameSpot."

      Perhaps people saw the M$ logo and thought better of it. I mean, what else have they been behind that was so great game wise?

      --
      #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
    5. Re:Not Surprized... by murdocj · · Score: 1

      I don't know how much involvement MS actually had, but I believe both Dungeon Siege and Rise of Nations had the MS label on them, and both were well received.

    6. Re:Not Surprized... by tod_miller · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they were about to release the XBox, and thought, lets kill this good game for the PC, and make more people buy XBoxes...

      Like biting off their nose to spit their face.

      2000? the Xbox was probably being developed and stuff. How long has it been out?

      --
      #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
    7. Re:Not Surprized... by Loadmaster · · Score: 1

      Allegiance came out in March 2000. The Xbox was put out in November 2001. Not that close. Also, I really don't think killing Allegiance would increase Xbox sales. Ending a MMORPG to force people to buy a console with no MMORPGs at all doesn't make much sense. Like another poster said, they developed Dungeon Siege and Rise of Nations and they are making a Dungeon Siege II. If they really wanted to make people buy Xboxes then they would only make games for the Xbox.

    8. Re:Not Surprized... by snkline · · Score: 1

      I would like to point out that MS did not make Dungeon Siege nor are they making DS2. Dungeon Siege is made by Gas Powered Games and distributed by Microsoft. Just like NWN is made by Bioware and distributed by Infogrames/Atari

  3. Wow by Snowspinner · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think this makes Ultima Online 2 the only game in history to be cancelled twice, no?

    --
    Philip Sandifer's academic website
  4. Series was long dead by arkham6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As far as I'm concerned, and I believe many others would agree with me, the series died at the end of Ultima 7.

    The add on does not count in my book. :)

    1. Re:Series was long dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      He got modded as Troll because he's just another fucking game luddite who will never see his golden age return. He probably thinks Final Fantasy died with 6 and Quake died with 2. These people need to wake the fuck up.

    2. Re:Series was long dead by bWareiWare.co.uk · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ultima 7 is still going strong!

    3. Re:Series was long dead by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, seriously, Ultima 8 sucks because it goes away from everything that made the other Ultimas worth playing (the changes in Final Fantasy 7 and Quake 3 are nowhere near as drastic), and Ultima 9 sucked because it was half-finished at time of release and didn't run well on the PCs of the time (I suggest people who didn't like it try it again, this time with patches). Has nothing to do with being an oldskool sadsack.

      Rob

    4. Re:Series was long dead by Kadmos · · Score: 3, Informative
      "...the series died at the end of Ultima 7"


      Died? Or was fan resurrected?...
      Try Exult (Ultima 7 on Linux & Windows), Ultim 6 online, Ultima Legacy, or any of the many Ultima remakes.

      There are *heaps* of Ultima related projects at http://reconstruction.voyd.net/ (I havn't linked them because I don't whant them to be /.'ed)

      It's all good being an Ultima fan :-)
  5. Where Ultima IX left off... by scrytch · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...for me anyway: Ripping the disk out and throwing it across the room with a cry of disgust, with box soon to follow, and uninstalling the damn buggy piece of crap. I even put up with Ultima 8 because it had an interesting story. But U9 was just unplayable. And that's just on the technical side. On the artistic side, it betrayed the story by breaking continuity -- what the hell did the Avatar do when he came out of the Etheral plane, giving up literal godhood to return to Britannia, then seeing the Guardian's face engraved on the mountain, dragons flying overhead ... did he go back home and get a ham sandwich and forget?

    Bah. A pox on you, Lord British.

    --
    I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
    1. Re:Where Ultima IX left off... by Snowspinner · · Score: 1

      What does Lord British have to do with anything? He works for NCSoft now.

      --
      Philip Sandifer's academic website
    2. Re:Where Ultima IX left off... by Kingfox · · Score: 1

      He was still working for EA, running Origin, at the time that nine came out. He didn't resign until after the patch for nine was released. Check your timeline a little more carefully.

      Of course, he hasn't been that actively involved with the series since six, according to many reports from inside the company.

    3. Re:Where Ultima IX left off... by Snowspinner · · Score: 1

      Yes, but that still has very little to do with Ultima X, which was what we were talking about.

      --
      Philip Sandifer's academic website
    4. Re:Where Ultima IX left off... by Kingfox · · Score: 1

      Let me explain this to you really simply, so you can grasp it.

      You replied to this comment where scrytch was complaining about Ultima IX. That's nine, as in not ten. scrytch lashed out at Lord British. You replied, asking where Lord British fit into all this. I noted that Lord British was still working at the Origin division of EA when IX came out. IX, as in the Ultima that scrytch was talking about in the comment that YOU REPLIED TO! WE are not talking about Ultima X. scrytch is talking about Ultima IX, I'm talking about Ultima IX, you're making clueless interjections. Capiche? Remedial reading in context 101.

  6. To Clear things up by GearType2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am very pissed off at this, and EA for continously cancelling good games. Anyways to topic: This isn't an MMO, it is not UO2, it was supposed to be more of a 3D diablo. Where you could team up and get zones with friends to fight in, and build up a character to eventually a pvp world.

    1. Re:To Clear things up by jmauro · · Score: 1

      Did you ever think that the games EA cancels aren't good at all, but are turning out so aweful that even EA doesn't want to put their name on it.

    2. Re:To Clear things up by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Or maybe they were too innovative and would ruin EA's reputation?

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    3. Re:To Clear things up by jmauro · · Score: 1

      Probably just as likely.

  7. everquest by Grommet+-+Space+Cade · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Everquest is still king of MMORPG and unfortunately i donth think that UO is going to get much closer to it. When EQ2 comes out it is rumoured to be far better than anything around and in dev at the moment although sony are going to keep EQ1 online for extended periods of time also. Lineage2 is the Asisn strongline atm but in a PvP environment it is not really the same thing.

    --
    WTF - Speak in acronyms already, i can't figure out what you mean otherwise boss
    1. Re:everquest by lowmagnet · · Score: 1

      Lineage 2 is something I spent about $65 on, played for two months, and dropped yesterday. NCSoft North America has no say in its development or timelines, and they customer support generally sucks. The fact that nobody but Koreans are allowed to play Korean servers, but Chinese are allowed to play NA servers and collect in-game money for sale on eBay is just one of many things wrong with the game. I had a level 20 character, after my first 'career change' and I found the game to just be a long treadmill with a broken economy (you can level before getting a new pair of BOOTS in this game) and I'm giving up until I hear what they do in Chronicle 2.

      --
      Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
  8. Ultima Online by Wtcher · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...that is, they probably didn't want to cannibalize that cash cow of theirs to feed another world. I believe that was pretty much the reason why they canned UO2 way back when.

    --
    ----- Wtcher Dragon, UDIC
    1. Re:Ultima Online by Marc_Hawke · · Score: 1

      It's this continual cancelling of UO sequels that reaffirms that MMOGs are insanely profitable.

      --
      --Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
  9. In a way, I'm glad to hear it. by Doctor+Cat · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I've seen bit by bit what little was left of Origin dissappear more and more. Richard left the company after Ultima 9. Then I went to the wake at Lord British's place when they cancelled UO2, with the big bonfire. Then they shut down what was left of the Austin office altogether. But for me, once Richard left, it really was about a big corporation trying to make money out of a franchise they bought - the name "Ultima".

    To me, one of the high points of my career was working on Ultima 5 and 6. (And some of the more obscure spinoffs, like the Gameboy Ultima I got to design). I started out as a fan, buying Ultima I right when it came out. I met my best friend 'Manda when she was hired to work at Origin, and she started out as a fan too - a huge admirer or Ultima IV. To me, the series was always about what Richard's vision was for the next game to be. Sure, he did worse with some of them, better with others, but all together the whole series, 1 through 9 (as well as Savage Empire, Martian Dreams, Serpent's Isle, and Ultima Online) were the results of his ideas and vision for what he wanted them to be.

    Seeing an Ultima X that was made by someone else would be, for me, a little like seeing Peanuts comic strips done by someone other than Charles Schulz. He managed to keep that from happening to Peanuts, though the syndication company tried to make that happen. A lot of other comic strips HAVE been moved over to other creators when the original artist retires and/or dies, and I always found the results a little unsettling. Not that I'm against it, if that's what the creator wants. But in this case, I'm glad that the main numbered Ultima series will stand in gaming history as the results of one man's work and vision and game design over a period of 20 years or so. (And a lot of us who helped him do it, yes, but primarily they're the games he wanted to make, the way he wanted them to be made).

    Now if somebody could just tell me why the name "Atari" will never die, I'd be a happy cat. My personal theory is it's been bought and sold so many times it's turned into a vampire-mummy-zombie-liche. Yeah, that must be it. (Did you know Eugene Jarvis, creator of Defender and Robotron and more, used to work at Atari before hooking up with Williams? So did Steve Jobs. Ok, enough pointless digression. Bye bye Ultima X.)

    --

    Furcadia - A free online game with user created content, DragonSpeak scripting, & more.

  10. Oh My God by frenchgates · · Score: 1

    This is starting to get funny. This is exactly what happened around 2 years ao when they cancelled the MMOG Sequel to Ultima Online that seemed like it was going to great. Are these guys high?

    --
    Syntax error: loose != lose, affect != effect, then!=than
  11. UO/UO2/UO:X History, Long read warning! by BloodAngel_Au · · Score: 5, Informative

    Heres all the details on the twining development, distruction and even Lord British's take on everything, here we go:

    Ultima Online 2 Announced [September 23, 1999, 11:28 pm EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=p ostmessage&boardid=1&id=0&threadid=600 0

    Lord British Moves On [March 30, 2000, 6:15 pm EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=p ostmessage&boardid=1&id=0&threadid=117 25

    Ultima Online: Third Dawn Announced [November 10, 2000, 12:45 pm EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=p ostmessage&boardid=1&id=0&threadid=194 91

    Ultima Worlds Online: Origin Canceled [March 21, 2001, 3:56 pm EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=p ostmessage&boardid=1&id=0&threadid=234 89

    Lord British on Origin [March 23, 2001, 11:47 am EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=p ostmessage&boardid=1&id=0&threadid=235 74

    UO2 'wake' held in Austin March 29, 2001
    http://www.gamespydaily.com/news/fullstory.a sp?id= 1523
    http://www.gamespydaily.com/news/screenshots .asp?i d=1524
    http://www.gamespydaily.com/news/screensho ts.asp?i d=1526

    Wich included burning af almost all the documents to do with UO2

    Lord British Interview [April 09, 2001, 1:31 pm EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=p ostmessage&boardid=1&id=0&threadid=240 83

    Then apparently legal threats from McFarlane lead to this compromise:

    UO: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge [October 31, 2001, 1:29 pm EDT
    http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?act ion=v iewthread&threadid=30105

    Ultima X: Odyssey Announced [August 22, 2003, 10:22 am EDT

    3/21/2004 Origin: The Final Goodbye
    http://www.wumple.com/index.php?p=23

    With many things burnt from Origin, including docs, pictures and various artifacts.

    Ultima X Odyssey Cancelled [June 30, 2004, 10:19 pm EDT

    A bit of reading, I know, but it very interesting read on the history of UO2/OWO, UO, Lord British and EA/Origin from Late 1999 on to now.

    Edit: Just found this: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?010528fa_FA CT Interview with Ralph Koster.

    and just to sum it up:
    http://www.gamespydaily.com/screenshots/index .asp? id=1100

  12. Is It Time For An OSS MMORPG? by blueZhift · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At this point the cancellation of yet another MMO effort isn't really news anymore. This can be attributed to a number of things, but two of the most important may be

    1. The great expense of MMO development and support

    2. Consolidation within the games industry

    The first is pretty obvious as it takes millions of dollars and almost as many years (it seems) to develop an MMORPG. Then it takes money for servers and bandwidth to support the game.

    The second is important because consolidation means less competition. This makes it easier for companies like EA and LucasArts to cancel even hotly anticipated titles.

    So I pose the question (probably not original), will fans have to band together to create and support their own MMO's? The development of such games is no small task, but if the development of FPS mods and total conversions is any clue, then there is talent and dedication out there for this task. Next if a distributed support model can be developed wherin gamers and other interested parties donate computing resources in some kind of Seti At Home meets BitTorrent sort of fashion, then the effort could be successful.

    Yeah, its pie in the sky, but we seem to be on the road to only a few MMOs to choose from. So as time goes on, DIY may be the way to go.

    --
    To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
  13. Pity to see something with a style go by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    I'm getting tired of seeing cookie cutter FRPG art. UOX Odyssey had a style to it. There's so few games being made in the states that have their own even slightly unique look and feel. I'm not asking for amazing art or technical skill, I just want some effort put into making a fully realized world with a consistant and interesting appearence. Anyone can take the latest whizzbang graphics cards and pump out a shinny, generic mess (Halo comes to mind, but then again it's a FPS). It takes effort to make something that's fun to look at long after the hardware is obsolete.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  14. an OSS MMO already exists by Skilf · · Score: 2, Informative

    Hi Actally an OSS MMORPG project is already ongoing. The Planeshift project started end of 2000/ early 2001 and development is still going strong. If you want to help them go take a look at their recruitment page For example, a the moment they are looking for 2D and 3D artists as well as Background/setting team members. It's been a while since I haven't tested their game (more than a year) so I won't comment on it, but the best thing is to head over there and try it yourself ;) Be aware thought that it is an ongoing project, so don't go there looking for a finished game :)

  15. And... by StarKruzr · · Score: 1

    ... the assholes went out of their way to buy and then kill Earth and Beyond.

    I'm STILL bitter about that. There are simply no good space-oriented MMORPGs out, period, since the sunset of EnB. SWG assuredly does not count, and EvE is boring as hell.

    --

    +++ATH0