....."except thatEA wanted to shut down UO"... Opps, I shouldn't have said that

[JC the Builder]

Mark Jacobs (head of EA Mythic) reveals in a rather long rant on another forum that EA was going to shut down our beloved UO. There was no reason given, but I suspect it was so Mythic could focus on the upcoming Warhammer game. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to convince Mythic to shut down DAOC as well. Here is the quote:

In terms of me having a thin skin, LOL. In the 20+ years I've been making games, I've been called more obscene things, accused of being responsible for every thing that went wrong in DAoC (even when I wasn't involved in the game at all after a few years because of Imperator or WAR), blamed for the state UO is in (except thatEA wanted to shut down UO when they gave it to us but I convinced them to spend more money on the game), gotten death threats (and had to call in the FBI), told that I should "shut up and die" more times than I can remember, criticized because I want to start a blog, had someone wish that my son and I should die in a car accident because we changed how one of the classes in DAOC worked, get hate mail on said blog (I know, I expected it) and my personal email constantly and generally blamed whenever possible for everything that is wrong in Mythic, Imperator, WAR, DAoC, UO, etc. and I almost always (especially nowadays) ignore them.

Here is the entire essay: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=14972.msg529849#msg529849

 

[deadite]

Holy crap. Seems that we owe more to Jacobs than we previously thought. He never talks about UO... but that is quite a bomb he dropped.

 

[Galad]

Wow

I guess it's only a matter of time before Mythic decides it's not worth keeping UO running.

 

[Fink]

I thought this was common knowledge?

 

[Lady Aalia]

I think everyone getss upsat at one point about games like theese if its UO , WOW , DAOC or any other..

Its just way bejond me that people would be making threats like that over a game....
Wow....

Its allways easy to let it all out on the Devs , but what it boils down to is without $$ love from above nothing is moving anywhere

 

[Cyrah]

I am so sorry that people did those things. I do not understand how your involvement in a game equates to anything in real life for players.

Thank you for your kindness to UO.

 

[Harb]

Wow. I didn't see that one coming, either Jacobs support or EA's lack thereof. Good for him, bad for them. If he needs any supporting context, for the Mrs and I, it's really very simple. We began playing UO in 97, currently maintain 3 accounts, have had as many as 7, and can account for 4 others from family members. Should EA pull the plug, we're done with EA. We've purchased every box for every account, bought each promo item multiple times, and during necessitated play lulls have used the oft ill-perceived after market folks. UO for us has accounted for thousands of dollars, none of which is regretted in any way. Continued EA support will undoubtedly account for many thousands more, which should matter to the company. Thank you Mark, and you JC for yet another "catch."

 

[Mishra_]

They should just sell it before they shut it down

 

[Lynk]

They should just sell it before they shut it down

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

 

[Nexus]

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

People with the know how, desire, and experience to restore and maintain it.

 

[UltimaSword]

Heh I always say no matter how pissed people are we should chill on bashing the people who run the game. Death threats to him and his son. I'd personally like to meet the fool and knock him out who made that threat. thanks Mark for your support of UO and I hope your son has a great successful life. Even if you didn't help uo id still wish it on you. After all these are JUST GAMES.

 

[Nexus]

Heh I always say no matter how pissed people are we should chill on bashing the people who run the game. Death threats to him and his son. I'd personally like to meet the fool and knock him out who made that threat. thanks Mark for your support of UO and I hope your son has a great successful life. Even if you didn't help uo id still wish it on you. After all these are JUST GAMES.

I agree with you, I'll publicly say I don't care for how he presents himself or some of the decision his company has made, but that doesn't mean I wish him serious harm.

 

[Arcus]

They should just sell it before they shut it down

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

I would. Especially this model.

 

[Nexus]

I would. Especially this model.

Yea UO is an almost unique MMO these days, at least as far as a paid to play one. It's direction in development that allows free form character building is a huge perk for it in my opinon. Given the proper direction and more open minded controlling partners it could rival some of the todays popular MMO's.

 

[prison bound]

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

tons of people... seriously. but why ask that question? uo is more like a 1962 Studebaker with 009713 miles on the odometer (only because it rolled over the million-mile marker)... she wont even start any more, and the novelty of a piece of scrap is coming to an end

 

[Lord Patapon]

Damn ...

 

[MoonglowMerchant]

Mark Jacobs (head of EA Mythic) reveals in a rather long rant on another forum that EA was going to shut down our beloved UO. There was no reason given, but I suspect it was so Mythic could focus on the upcoming Warhammer game. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to convince Mythic to shut down DAOC as well. Here is the quote:

Here is the entire essay: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=14972.msg529849#msg529849

That guy really needs a new job.

 

[Yalp]

Like a good democracy.. critique of the game and the direction it's leadership is taking it is good for the end product..

...but death threats and acts of violence is despicable.. and those who perpetuate that behavior should be called out on it. It's unacceptable to people of good will!

Safe travels Mark and may you and your family prosper.

 

[BbqLou]

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

100k miles on a 1990 isn't a lot! I would sooo buy it!

 

[Kariny]

Well, I'm going to guess the extra money MJ got from EA to keep UO going is also being spent towards our new team members referred to in the Town Hall.

As long as the servers are still running I'll be greatful to Jacobs for keeping this old hatchback around.
Never hurts to keep a spare vehicle around when the new SUV gets totalled out.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

UO beens the only online game we have played since 99, if they shut it down there is NOTHING out there that we like and will go back to doing what we did before going online. I'm sure there are other folks out there that see this as we do.

 

[Haddy G]

Well I hope the SA client succeeds or this might really be the end.

Anyways thank you Mythic for keeping UO alive.

 

[Loqucious]

They should just sell it before they shut it down

THAT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE HEARD IN A LONG TIME!

 

[ColterDC]

Darkfall here we come!!!

 

[K'torr]

Darkfall here we come!!!

I'm just hope DF starts up before UO shuts down.
I would hate to go cold turkey.

 

[MalagAste]

I think it's insane to threaten someone over a game. Silly bit of whacoism there....

At anyrate...... if they shut down UO I think I'm done with online games. Might finish up my game of Baulders gate finally (sorta quit playing years ago to play and focus attention on UO) Might consider going back to playing the sims... That was a fun game.... though the online version stunk.... I'm glad he pulled for us and I hope he continues to pull for UO.... it really is a unique experience that I think deserves more attention than it gets. But I love UO..... enough that I have 8 accounts.... and I intend to keep them.... each and every one of them....

Can't think of any other game that even comes close to UO.

I wish him the best.

 

[Draxous]

So Trammel never saved UO... Mark Jacobs did!

 

[kennykilleduo]

Even though WAR is his baby right now , if he was to come here and give us HIS version of the STATE of UO ( a positive , non candy coated one ) , it would go a long way with many players I think..

 

[Alvinho]

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

I recently bought a 1988 mustang 5.0 cobra edition with 160,000 miles, ofcourse im gutting and rebuilding teh whole thing but nne the less I bought a damm near identical car you are useing as a example

 

[ColterDC]

If Darkfall can deliver on their promises, it will be interesting to see if UO can survive without all of it's current PvPers, Siege players and any other players who actually want to play a true sandbox game again.

The way it's looking right now, if Darkfall does deliver, EA's poorly managed version of UO is history.

 

[Nexus]

If Darkfall can deliver on their promises, it will be interesting to see if UO can survive without all of it's current PvPers, Siege players and any other players who actually want to play a true sandbox game again.

The way it's looking right now, if Darkfall does deliver, EA's poorly managed version of UO is history.

I doubt UO would lose all of them, and even if it were too they aren't the majority of the player base, and all the Trammies would rejoice because they could do spawns in Fel, and the Thieves would rejoice because they unprepared Trammies would lose their scrolls by the pack full.

If EA was to pull the plug that wouldn't kill UO the Emulation community is stronger than the paying player base in numbers.

 

[Zooithion]

Thank you Mark Jacobs!

 

[Masuri]

Who's gonna buy a 1990 model hatch-back with 100k miles?

People with the know how, desire, and experience to restore and maintain it.

Great zinger.

Without knowing the reason why MJ 'saved' UO (money? nostalgia? vision? contrariness?), I have a hard time jumping on the 'omg we lurve u marky!!@!@' bandwagon. As another poster said, since we basically never hear from him, or most of the staff at EA, and since he has (whether he admits it or not) been responsible for overseeing the last year or two of UO, it's hard to believe he stuck up for UO because of the players.

 

[Maplestone]

An interesting comment ... I think I'm grateful, but I also have a nagging sceptism of the shades of grey that exist at the crossroads of suits and egos.

But yeah, death threats are no fun and it takes a certain crazy-thick skin and a slighly narcissistic sense of humor to take it day in and day out.

 

[wanderer1origin]

come on guys he posted this knowing we would find for sympathy and got result


he is trying distract his lack of interest in this game and looking to seem a savior


has never reallly talked to us a ea cash cow


trying to make up slow results to suits for delays we getting so subs declining


!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great zinger.

Without knowing the reason why MJ 'saved' UO (money? nostalgia? vision? contrariness?), I have a hard time jumping on the 'omg we lurve u marky!!@!@' bandwagon. As another poster said, since we basically never hear from him, or most of the staff at EA, and since he has (whether he admits it or not) been responsible for overseeing the last year or two of UO, it's hard to believe he stuck up for UO because of the players.

 

[AesSedai]

- Thx and very interesting.

Now if only Mr. Jacobs could embrace the art of a fair playing field by doing what he is doing and realizing his hatred of RMT are at odds with each other. If you want a fair playing field then you have to allow fair players to do what cheaters do... you cannot ever remove RMT (WoW can't, there is your ..buzz word alert .. litmus test) but you can focus on removing players that cheat in the game.

(Thinking about this a bit, it makes sense. It explains why the 10th anniversary wasn't such a big affair a few months before they relocated. Stupid Riccitiello and EA where is the vision of what UO is and can be!)

Jacobs, you just gained 0.1 in respect. *bows*

And I agree: Anyone that makes death threats to people or even their peoples (family) needs to be flogged abrasively and dealt with by the upper-ups (~ as in the FBI feds). Talk is talk; but talk like that is utterly deplorable. Then again, that obviously happens when catering to plenty of pedantic morons for a living (heh, being in charge of mmo's is quite similar to being a political leader, eh?).

 

[Loquacious Wrath]

EA wanted to shut down UO because of the majority of people who refused to upgrade their systems so the game could evolve. You can't market and sell the 2d client. People just need to get that through their skulls.

It doesn't matter what PvP balance or ruleset is reinstalled. Graphics are of #1 importance in any marketable game. Maybe KR wasn't the best graphics available, but at least it was moving UO in the correct direction for sustainability. There are so many anti-non-2d-client people in UO, that I don't blame EA for wanting to shut it down. Spoiled children...

So if faced with losing UO forever (because EA likely will not sell) or dealing with graphics you don't like, which would you prefer? If I hear one person say shut down UO, then my point is validated.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

So is this encouraging, in that UO seems to have a champion of sorts, even if it's an obscenely busy one, it's at least one who understands that you shouldn't shut down "wildly profitable" business ventures?

Or discouraging in that it basically means I've basically been wrong for years and years when I said that EA wasn't stupid enough to shut down a revenue stream?

The mood I'm in today I vote for the latter.

This is, to me, very depressing news....Aside from the fact that I hate being wrong, there's also....Well, the obvious! For may of us, this is our primary hobby, and to EA it seems to have been "take it out of our direct control or we're going to shut it down."



-Galen's player

 

[SpyderBite]

UO beens the only online game we have played since 99, if they shut it down there is NOTHING out there that we like and will go back to doing what we did before going online. I'm sure there are other folks out there that see this as we do.

I used to say that too. And, with a very loud voice. Then I went out and actually gave some of the games out there a fair chance.. eg. longer than 2 weeks.. It was then, that I realized that I was only holding on for nostalgic reasons.

Not bashing UO or anything. But, experiencing fixes that are patched over night, live quest events occuring almost monthly and expansions that are released on a yearly basis.. almost to the day.. sold me. The top notch 3d graphics utilizing the latest and greatest video cards and processors was just gravy for me.

I do hope that some money is sunk in to UO some day by whatever company it is handed down to in hopes of wiping its losses off the books.

In the meantime, its nice to see quotes such as the OP posted.. and that perhaps there's a producer out there who might not have given up on that dream quite yet. But, to be honest, I'm glad I haven't waited around to see if that ever happens.

 

[Radun]

way to go for not having our beloved UO closed down

...sshhhh... Heroes is on

 

[Lord Kynd]

Might consider going back to playing the sims... That was a fun game.....

didn't EA pull the plug on the sims awhile ago ?

 

[Gheed]

Haha if UO ends I definitely won't be blaming MJ for it... come to think of it... I won't be so pissed when the GF wants me to come over and hang shutters either... and I'll save 50 bucks a month...

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Holy crap. Seems that we owe more to Jacobs than we previously thought. He never talks about UO... but that is quite a bomb he dropped.

Understand 3 things...

First, Mark Jacobs, based on his typical posts, has what most psychologists would term a "martyr complex."

Second, if what Jacobs says about EA and UO is true, that UO's management have been lying to us repeatedly about the state of affairs with UO (not a big shock, really, but it does explain a lot).

Third, Pogo is considered EA's "online success" story these days. They have never understood what UO was, they have continually hired people who don't get it, and by now, it really is a bit too late to reverse the damage done to it.

What I think is funny is comparing Jacob's statement about EA and UO with the statement made by UO's present producer who seems to believe that UO will be around for a 25th anniversary.

Not, I think, if EA has anything to do with it. And they do.


Oh, and it's nice to note that Jacobs' only comments about UO tend to be of the negative sort. As if DAoC would have had a chance had UO not come before it.

 

[canary]

Understand 3 things...


if what Jacobs says about EA and UO is true, that UO's management have been lying to us repeatedly about the state of affairs with UO (not a big shock, really, but it does explain a lot).

The EA/UO team lying. Shocker.

 

[JC the Builder]

I don't think they have lied about UO's profitability. Even if UO turns a profit for EA, they might shut it down for other reasons.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Understand 3 things...


Second, if what Jacobs says about EA and UO is true, that UO's management have been lying to us repeatedly about the state of affairs with UO (not a big shock, really, but it does explain a lot).

That's just it....Everything I have read about MMOs and how they work leads me to believe that UO's still making boatloads of money....However, what I do think happened was that EA doesn't get it or know what to do with it. (You say this elsewhere in your post I believe?)

What does shock and dismay me is that EA's lack of understanding of this business model (accept a smaller but steadier revenue stream, almost all of which is profit, and forego instant cash) was so total that they'd consider canceling UO.

Sure it might be possible that UO's not even profitable anymore, but we have specific reason to believe the opposite. (Was referred to here: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/warhammer-time as "wildly profitable.")

So putting it all together.....EA saw the money coming in, and stupidly compared it to the initial release of a sports game (and/or compares it to it at its peak and doesn't understand that the market has changed a lot), sees the basic failure of KR, and wants to cancel it...Jacobs (who seems to understand the business model better) saves it.

So why am I still so dismayed? Because EA's still in-charge and one day could still the plug.

And now that I see how close we may have been to the edge, the more I figure that means that maybe we're not any further away now than we were.

Marc, I know these boards suck, but come here anyway.

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I don't think they have lied about UO's profitability. Even if UO turns a profit for EA, they might shut it down for other reasons.

*nods*

I'm thinking they basically don't get the business model.

If that's right, then we all have to hope Jacobs is really as much in charge of Mythic and its properties as he likes to imply.

-Galen's player

 

[AesSedai]

- The last I heard, the chain of command went from Riccitiello to Jacobs. Often I thought Jacobs was the squeaky cog that needed grease; now, assuming he is being sincere, I guess it is Riccitiello that needs to comprehend the diamond in the rough, called UO, that he is in charge of.
And if it is above Mr John R., well then I guess I will be inclined to redirect my finger-pointing towards someone else in charge of EA's portfolio, because someone continues to forget how profitable UO has been, is, and can be. This beauty has profitably lasted over a decade; and it was not just because it was some eye-candy and roster update of an annual ~cut-and-paste offering, nor some simplistic standard issue MMO. Here in this non-Madden world, things have consistently evolved thru-and-thru. Btw, that is a good thing

 

[Flora Green]

This guy bugs me.rolleyes:

 

[RoycroftLS]

Sure it might be possible that UO's not even profitable anymore, but we have specific reason to believe the opposite. (Was referred to here: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/warhammer-time as "wildly profitable.")

The quote "except that EA wanted to shut down UO when they gave it to us but I convinced them to spend more money on the game" refers to June/July 2006. That's when EA purchased Mythic and had them work on UO.

Assuming both quotes are factual, that gives about two years between EA wanting to shut down the game, and the "wildly profitable" comment. I mentioned this in another thread, but it's probably not a coincidence that those two years correspond with the cutting of customer support, streamlining and combining of dev teams, and other cost-cutting measures.

While those actions may have made the game wildly profitable in the short-term, it doesn't seem likely that the profitability is sustainable using those methods alone. Either they will run out of things to cut back on, or they'll end up alienating the vast majority of the playerbase with their cuts.