Ultima Online producer Aaron Cohen posts a letter on Ultima Online’s website revealing details for a new game client.
Nearly a month prior to Ultima Online’s ninth anniversary, Electronic Arts has announced a rebuild to the Ultima Online client that has been in development for the past eight months.
Although first announced to current players through an in-game event, a public letter to Ultima fans on uo.com revealed that the client will be a complete overhaul featuring improved graphics and a smoother user interface. Accounts will remain unaffected by the client upgrade and the small jump in the system specs is unlikely to push out any players using a modern PC. The client’s official title is Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn, and a teaser video was linked to from an on-site FAQ.
According to MMOGChart.com, Ultima Online subscriptions peaked at about 250,000 in early 2003 and have steadily declined to around 135,000 paid subscribers, 70,000 of which are Japanese users. Ultima Online currently holds 1.1% of the total MMO market share. Ultima Online producer Aaron Cohen has stated that the majority of questions will be answered within the year and Kingdom Reborn will be released sometime in 2007.
