EA and NetDragon Enter Agreement to Develop Ultima Online

[LittleSkyWalker]

I not sure the meaning of 'Develop'
I guess is establish asia market (mainly chinese population...) or incorporate chinese element into the game.. if yes... very soon we will able to role play as 'shaolin monk' with shaolin kungfu?



http://www.itnews.it/news/2009/0722070401778/ea-and-netdragon-enter-agreement-to-develop-ultima-online.html
Click to read


Extracted from above site

##############################################
HONG KONG, July 22 /PRNewswire/ --
Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS) and NetDragon Websoft Inc., a leading game developer and operator in China ("NetDragon", with its subsidiaries collectively know as the "Group"; Hong Kong Stock Code: 777), today announced a licensing agreement for the development of a new massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) based on "Ultima Online"(TM) from Electronic Arts. As part of the agreement, NetDragon will develop the new Ultima Online(TM) in collaboration with EA's Mythic Entertainment, and have the exclusive operating license for China, Hong Kong, Macau and India.
"We are delighted to further our relationship with EA through the development of Ultima Online(TM)," said Mr. Liu Dejian, Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon. "Capitalizing on our ability to create a strong online gaming experience, we are confident that Ultima Online(TM) will be a success in China and will also achieve remarkable results in the other markets where we'll operate the game."


Jon Niermann, President of EA Asia said, "Ultima Online(TM) is a well known EA property and we're delighted to bring the game to fans in China, Hong Kong, Macau and India. NetDragon is a proven partner and we're confident in their expertise to build and operate a great gaming experience for players".
Rob Denton, General Manager and Vice President of Mythic Entertainment added, "We're thrilled to be able to work with NetDragon to bring the pioneering Ultima Online to a new audience in these exciting markets."

##############################################

 

[wee papa smurf]

Sounds like there going to expand the game to India ect, can only be a good thing

 

[Omnius]

I didn't see any mention of india but a large chinese playerbase would do wonders for UO. PvP would be subject to what is known in other games as the hive play style or pure zerg.

We might see a massive resurgence of pvp with chinese players.

 

[Kiminality]

I don't know...
To me it seems like it might be more of a distribution deal. Like GOA running WAR in Europa, and the like.
If that's so, there's probably end up a separate login server for that area of the world, and separate shards. That would probably mean we end up with less people, as they migrate to the potentially cheaper, local UO.

Who can say, though, until we receive official word.

 

[Bomb Bloke]

It sounds like members of their game won't have access to the shards of our game.

 

[HD2300]

"announced a licensing agreement for the development of a new massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) based on "Ultima Online"(TM) from Electronic Arts"

I think NetDragon has bought the code and will make their own version of UO. If we are lucky it will be a REAL 3D version.

 

[LittleSkyWalker]

"announced a licensing agreement for the development of a new massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) based on "Ultima Online"(TM) from Electronic Arts"

I think NetDragon has bought the code and will make their own version of UO. If we are lucky it will be a REAL 3D version.

If there is 'new' UO version available.
I will request for a pre-pub16 UO

 

[Nyte Doombringer]

From reading this it sounds like they are developing a game for them and their countries actually not Europa or the US.

 

[wee papa smurf]

I didn't see any mention of india but a large chinese playerbase would do wonders for UO. PvP would be subject to what is known in other games as the hive play style or pure zerg.

We might see a massive resurgence of pvp with chinese players.

I not sure the meaning of 'Develop'
I guess is establish asia market (mainly chinese population...) or incorporate chinese element into the game.. if yes... very soon we will able to role play as 'shaolin monk' with shaolin kungfu?



http://www.itnews.it/news/2009/0722070401778/ea-and-netdragon-enter-agreement-to-develop-ultima-online.html
Click to read


Extracted from above site

##############################################
HONG KONG, July 22 /PRNewswire/ --
Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS) and NetDragon Websoft Inc., a leading game developer and operator in China ("NetDragon", with its subsidiaries collectively know as the "Group"; Hong Kong Stock Code: 777), today announced a licensing agreement for the development of a new massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) based on "Ultima Online"(TM) from Electronic Arts. As part of the agreement, NetDragon will develop the new Ultima Online(TM) in collaboration with EA's Mythic Entertainment, and have the exclusive operating license for China, Hong Kong, Macau and India.
"We are delighted to further our relationship with EA through the development of Ultima Online(TM)," said Mr. Liu Dejian, Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon. "Capitalizing on our ability to create a strong online gaming experience, we are confident that Ultima Online(TM) will be a success in China and will also achieve remarkable results in the other markets where we'll operate the game."


Jon Niermann, President of EA Asia said, "Ultima Online(TM) is a well known EA property and we're delighted to bring the game to fans in China, Hong Kong, Macau and India. NetDragon is a proven partner and we're confident in their expertise to build and operate a great gaming experience for players".
Rob Denton, General Manager and Vice President of Mythic Entertainment added, "We're thrilled to be able to work with NetDragon to bring the pioneering Ultima Online to a new audience in these exciting markets."

##############################################

 

[NewThunder]

Getting UO more exposure is a good thing! It shows people UO is not DEAD. The fact that a firm is willing to invest in the UO brand to me indicates there is a future for UO.

 

[Kellgory]

1.33 billion people in China
1.16 billion people in India
307 million people in the US

I guess you can look at this 2 ways. A. UO subscriptions may rise to 100K. or B. They are finally going to let the UO customer service reps have the opportunity to play the game.

 

[Chrissay_]

From reading this it sounds like they are developing a game for them and their countries actually not Europa or the US.

This is pretty much right on the money. They will be working on a new online game base on the long, rich history of Ultima, but aimed at their markets.

 

[Black Sun]

I bet this has something to do with China censoring the internet for their people. Real UO is probably too risque or something for them to allow it in uncensored, so now they have to make their own version.

 

[Der Rock]

I bet this has something to do with China censoring the internet for their people. Real UO is probably too risque or something for them to allow it in uncensored, so now they have to make their own version.

imagine you play a chinese server, and in the heat of the battle in ter mur you say
"FREE TIBET"


and BAM...... CON LOST

 

[Deepwoods]

Maybe its a good thing hopeful it will give the US Dev teams more ideas

 

[Slayvite]

Does that mean that we'll be loosing the subs from the asian shards? Aint that gonna look bad in the next EA meeting when you turn round and say after releasing SA we lost half the player base to this new game?

 

[Wieland]

This is pretty much right on the money. They will be working on a new online game base on the long, rich history of Ultima, but aimed at their markets.

So it will probably look better than those ugly graphic updates we killed our eyes with.

 

[Magnus]

This is pretty much right on the money. They will be working on a new online game base on the long, rich history of Ultima, but aimed at their markets.

I don't suppose we will see any of this over here?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Does that mean that we'll be loosing the subs from the asian shards? Aint that gonna look bad in the next EA meeting when you turn round and say after releasing SA we lost half the player base to this new game?

Asia is the largest continent in the world with dozens of countries. This agreement is targeted towards countries for which there are no special official Ultima Online servers at present.

Most of the current Asian shards are Japanese servers with primarily Japanese player base. They are not part of this agreement. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Black Sun]

Asia is the largest continent in the world with dozens of countries. This agreement is targeted towards countries for which there are no special official Ultima Online servers at present.

Most of the current Asian shards are Japanese servers with primarily Japanese player base. They are not part of this agreement. I hope that makes sense.

I was worried about us losing our asian players too, but I had forgotten that they are already playing on local servers. Puts my mind at ease a bit.

 

[deadite]

Richard Garriott must be rolling over in his space capsule.

I think this sucks. Most likely it will be a grindy anime-style WoW clone with gigantic weapons, but if by some miracle NetDragon is true to the Ultima style I would definitely want to play this game.

I've been "done" with UO for a while now, but I have been an Ultima fan for nearly 20 years... UO has been the only thing keeping that IP alive until now.

So much for hoping RG would snap out of it and buy the Ultima IP back from EA, gather some talented people and develop more single player Ultima games that would rival Bethesda in their depth and free play ideology.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

"FREE TIBET"

I'll take it!

 

[Slayvite]

Puts my mind at ease for now.
Now i'm assuming they will be locked shards like Ledgends used to be back in the AoL days? So we can assume their will be no x-sharding to them shards?

 

[hen]

It will be a different game.

 

[RJO]

Does that mean that we'll be loosing the subs from the asian shards? Aint that gonna look bad in the next EA meeting when you turn round and say after releasing SA we lost half the player base to this new game?

UO's asian population is made up mostly of Japanese players. I can assure you the politics between the two countries will prevent Japanese players from playing on a Chinese service.

 

[Pink Dragoness]

Amazing, UO still has an "Influence" in the world

 

[Slickjack]

1.33 billion people in China
1.16 billion people in India
307 million people in the US

I guess you can look at this 2 ways. A. UO subscriptions may rise to 100K. or B. They are finally going to let the UO customer service reps have the opportunity to play the game.

That made me laugh so hard!

 

[Demonous]

That made me laugh so hard!

that is a lot of people....... china and india could take over the world together if they wanted to

 

[Magnus]

Heres a preview of what we'lll be seeing perhaps

 

[Maplestone]

odd that it would be a "new game" that won't be shared back to the land that it came from.

I suppose if they introduced the same game at a lower price in a foreign market than in the domestic market, that might run afoul of anti-dumping provisions of trade agreements. So you rebrand it as a new product and everything is nice and neat.

(just brainstorming out loud)

 

[Amren]

1.33 billion people in China
1.16 billion people in India
307 million people in the US

I guess you can look at this 2 ways. A. UO subscriptions may rise to 100K. or B. They are finally going to let the UO customer service reps have the opportunity to play the game.

 

[Lefty]

This kind of irks me a bit for several reasons.

Many of us want/wanted a true 3d UO world. Our hopes died when UO2 and UXO were canned. Now there is another UO style game which will be most likely a 3d and it is being outsourced and implemented in Asia in which most likely game servers will be a far reach to Western regions.

I know this is an attempt to gain the Eastern Gaming market, but EA has for years overlooked the millions of players (yes I said Millions) who went through the UO revolving door do to its wild changes throughout the years. With each expansion and changes a host of players would quit and some would join for an X amount of time. Much like a roller coaster.

Perhaps it is time for EA to realize that people prefer various flavors besides vanilla. I think EA has the budget and resources to give each player their preferred flavor of UO.

If EA went through with either UO2 or UXO as well as providing a classical version maybe EA would be getting the lions share of subscribers instead of WoW.
No, instead the market to a highly populated region instead of the whole world. I guess I will never understand EA's wild white collar decisions.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Ya know, as much as a harp about artwork, I never liked the way UXO looked. The whole thing looked too "Disney" for my taste, and I HATED The borg/cyberpunk crap in UO2 (and hated the fact they were shoehorned into UO... Meer and Juka were ok, but the Borgthorn stuff... KAK!). Oh and add to that the craptacular camera/movement system that was Ultima IX.

To be honest, I haven't seen a recent Ultima that has done 3d well.

 

[Lefty]

True, but there has been many advancements in 3d rendering since then. Something up to date. In all honesty I would like to exercise my graphic cards instead of my CPU chugging out sprites no matter what client they spit out.

 

[Amren]

True, but there has been many advancements in 3d rendering since then. Something up to date. In all honesty I would like to exercise my graphic cards instead of my CPU chugging out sprites no matter what client they spit out.

but
but
but
............ Graphics don't make a game good, is the mantra of the UO player.

 

[HaHa]

Sounds like there going to expand the game to India ect, can only be a good thing

All the tech support is there already.

Hey since I dont speak a word of their language think I could apply to be a tech support there?