(Question) Is Broadsword a Game Hospice?

[DeadBob]

Was Broadsword Online Games set up as a place to squeeze the last remaining dollars out of a dying MMO? Or will they actually fix the problems that inhibit new growth?

Does Broadsword have the money to promote Ultima Online? Or is their market just returning players?

Will Broadsword make it easier for new players to pay to play? The current EA Account system is bureaucracy run amuck. It discourages otherwise interested players.

Finally, will anybody get it, that UO is not in competition with online games? Ultima creator Richard Garriott tried to tell us that, "Ultima is not a game, it is an interactive world."
You can log in and build a house, start a business, write a book, go fishing, sail a warship & sink pirates, start a fight with another player or monster, do quests or do some gardening.
Thanks to the creativity of UO players, it is not possible to name every possible activity.

So the question is, can Broadsword reach out to new players, make it easy for them to set up accounts, and enrich the interactivity of our world? Or are we getting more of the same-o until we shuffle off this mortal server?

 

[Taylor]

These are good questions. I was fortunate to eat lunch with Rob, Matt, and Bonnie a couple weeks ago. Without saying too much, I left feeling more optimistic than I have since I started leading publishing at Stratics back in 2010.

Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding...but they have a marketing budget for the first time in a long, long time. That doesn't communicate “maintenance mode" to me.

Let's just hope they hire a marking company who understands their unique market.

(http://valourcorp.com/services)

 

[startle]

Let's hope they start by using whatever influence they collectively have to fix the Origin store before it chases even more vet players away... Never has there been a business more inept than the online order system at Origin store.

 

[FrejaSP]

I have faith in Broadsword. I have the feeling, they care about UO and want to get the game back to life. That's not an easy task. I believe it will be easier to bring back old players than make young players join UO.
I do not believe marketing do it alone, more important is to bring back the feeling of living in a world, where you wake up in your home when you login, walk out and visit some of the other homes to see who is home. Then look to see what work you need to do today, stocking vendors, do some mining, lumbering or kill some animals or monsters. Or maybe your work is to patrol the gathering spots, the town and the dungeons to keep it safe for killers and thieves. Or maybe you are a one of the evils, looking for a target.
All this did bind the community together but something got lost over the years and the key to bring it back is to find out, why the player towns and the action around the local bank and NPC shops died.
I see 2 thing that may help, get factions taxes out of our towns and make the overland spawn around the towns worth hunting for newbies, crafters, not so skilled PvM'ers. That will bring back the local evil chars too and give the good PvP'ers a place to keep safe. Dungeons and hard spawn is fine but the player town should be the place where the players get together.
If you login and someone need you, you will stay and play. If you login and find no one, you may just logout again.
Sure marketing and an easier start may help too but if they can't bring back the feeling of living in a world, we will have hard with keeping the players.

 

[DeadBob]

You are exactly right, Freja. That old feeling of red and blue community gave UO a unique flavor. It was fun just to be among other UO gamers, no matter how we spent our time here.

A good marketing company that understands Internet gamers can find and target the kind of new people who would most enjoy Ultima Online. (http://valourcorp.com/services) We need more people like you, Freja.

 

[SpyderBite]

Meh. EA didn't do much to encourage new players. Mystic seemed like they didn't even try. This whole deal sounds like a garage sale bargain for a small development company to take a crack at and take it off of Mystic/EA's books finally.

Hope I'm wrong. I'd love a reason to come back. But with SotA right around the corner and looking fabulous in alpha right now, I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[Taylor]

@SpyderBite Wasn't a sale. EA owns the game. Broadsword (independent studio from EA) operates it. I'm sure there's some type of rev deal. EA may not care about growing UO, but Broadsword is an independent start-up with only two sources of income: the well-being of DAoC and UO.

 

[startle]

@SpyderBite .... EA may not care about growing UO, but Broadsword is an independent start-up with only two sources of income: the well-being of DAoC and UO.

Exactly !