September 8, 2009 – MMO Fallout

Ultimaonline

Despite being two years older than Everquest, Ultima Online can only boast half the number of expansion packs. That being said, EA reminds us of the continued investment they hold in the title with today’s release of Stygian Abyss, introducing a new race, new classes, new abilities, and an entirely new facet.

In an interview with Calvin Crowner, he had this to say about the possibility of a new Ultima Online:

Well, I can’t say just yet, but Mythic is always looking at our existing intellectual properties and discussing the best course of action for the franchises.

What do you think? Ultima Online 2 has been tried, and never made it through production. Should Mythic go through with a plan for Ultima 2, they will have to take a good hard look at who they’re going to market the game towards.

500x_magazine_logo

In a recent interview with Joystiq, J. Allen Brack (Lead Producer over at Blizzard) had this to say on the game’s longevity:

I have said, internally, and I think externally as well, that I fully expect WoW to be around for at least 10 more years.

Good news for anyone getting worried (IE: Borderline paranoia) about World of Warcraft shutting down. 10 more years? Hopefully by then World of Warcraft will have transferred over to a neural system beamed directly into our cerebral cortex so we can monitor real life with one eye while leveling to the 100 level cap, raiding, gaining tier 25 armor in the other.

I’ll see you all in 2019 to see where WoW is.