Ultima Online (UO) is a fantasy massively multiplayer online game released on September 24, 1997, by Origin Systems. Set in the Ultima universe, the game is famous for its large amount of player versus player combat. Since its release, the game has received eight expansion packs, one booster pack, and many free updates. The 2007 release of Kingdom Reborn introduced a new game engine with improved visuals.

To prepare for the launch of the Stygian Abyss expansion, support for the old client ended to make updates easier. A new version of the Kingdom Reborn client was created and renamed the "Enhanced Client." This updated version was introduced as a test version in July 2009, at the same time as the release of Stygian Abyss. The "Enhanced Client" combines some 3D models and user interface elements from Kingdom Reborn with the 2D artwork from the Classic Client. As of 2025, the "Enhanced Client" and the "Classic Client" are the two official versions of the game.

Gameplay

Ultima Online kept many traditions from earlier Ultima games. However, because of better technology and because it was Origin's first online game that stays active even when players are not logged in, new game features were added. Since the game was partly designed to study how players interact and how they behave in social situations, the designers had to plan for many players working together and dealing with the idea that players might feel they are the most important person, as was common in games played alone.

Ultima Online started with one world, and later expansions added more areas and new worlds. The second world was called "Lost Lands" and was often called T2A because the expansion pack was named "The Second Age." This world had more land, dungeons, creatures, and different types of terrain. The third world was Trammel, which was a copy of the original Ultima Online map. When Trammel was released, the developers changed the original world to look darker and gave it a new name, "Felucca." There were two types of servers: "normal" servers, which allowed both Trammel (where players could fight each other only if both agreed) and Felucca (where players could fight each other without needing permission), and "siege" servers, which had no item insurance, limited ways to move around, and only allowed one character per account. Siege servers usually had more difficult rules than other servers.

The worlds in Ultima Online include:

• Felucca — The original world, which was changed to include dead trees and tombstones to make it look different. It has stricter rules where player fighting is more common.
• Trammel — A world where players cannot fight each other without permission and has more open space for building homes.
• Ilshenar — Added new dungeons, monsters, and land, along with over 30 new creatures designed by Todd McFarlane.
• Malas — Included a player versus player arena and space for 1,500 new homes. It had the largest dungeon at the time, called Dungeon Doom, and two cities: Luna (the "City of Paladins") and Umbra (the "City of Necromancers"). Malas is a group of islands floating in a dark space and is known for its unique art style. It was praised for its variety of creatures and environments.
• Tokuno — A group of islands inspired by Feudal Japan.
• Ter Mur — A land home to gargoyles. The capital city, Ter Mur, has space for player homes.
• Valley of Eodon — A world with a prehistoric look, featuring dinosaurs and giant apes.

Development

The game had an initial development budget of $2.5 million. Ultima Online was created from Richard Garriott’s idea for a fantasy game where thousands of players could interact in a shared fantasy world. Earlier games allowed hundreds of players to play at the same time, such as Habitat (tested in 1986), The Realm Online, Neverwinter Nights (AOL version), and Meridian 59. However, Ultima Online improved on these games with better graphics and game features. Garriott said, "It was important for Ultima Online to have a theme, story, and quests. We wanted it to be more than just player-controlled; we wanted it to be an Ultima experience, where players could live alternate lives in a virtual world." The goal was to give players as much freedom as possible.

The initial team included Garriott, Starr Long, Rick Delashmit, Scott Phillips, and later Raph Koster, who became the lead designer. Koster wrote public letters about game design and was known as "Designer Dragon." He was inspired by earlier online games, like DartMUD.

The project began in 1995 and was shown to the public at E3 as "Ultima Online: Shattered Legacy" in May 1996. Origin, the company behind the game, said over 3,000 people tested the early version. The development cost was much higher than for earlier, offline games because players connected to servers through modems. Ultima Online’s early features included player-built homes, character progression based on skills (not levels or classes), a player-driven economy, and player-versus-player combat without restrictions.

An artificial life system was planned to make animals in the game react to events, creating new adventures. However, this feature was never completed.

Lord British was Garriott’s in-game character, who died during a beta test on August 9, 1997. A player named Rainz used a spell to kill Lord British. Starr Long, a producer, said the death happened because Garriott forgot to reset his character’s invulnerability after a server crash. Rainz was later banned for exploiting bugs, not for killing Lord British. Beta testers protested the ban and other actions by developers. The original beta test ended on September 23, 1997, with an "end of the world" event where Shadowlords and demons attacked all characters.

In September 1997, Ultima Online launched and opened servers to the public. It became popular, reaching 100,000 paying players within six months, which caused lag problems. By 1999, servers opened in Japan, Europe, and South Korea to support the game’s growth. In 2000, Garriott left Origin, taking Lord British with him. Players speculated about his disappearance. In February 2000, a large in-game event featured an army of undead attacking the city of Trinsic. A new server opened in Australia around the same time.

In May 2000, the game’s second expansion, Ultima Online: Renaissance, changed the game by splitting the world into two areas: Trammel and Felucca. In Trammel, players could only fight with others’ permission, while in Felucca, attacks were allowed without permission. In November 2000, the first official fan event, the UO World Faire, was held in Austin, Texas. In March 2001, the third expansion, Ultima Online: Third Dawn, added 3D graphics and a new area called Ilshenar, which required a new game client. In January 2002, the second fan event, Online Worlds FanFest, was held in Austin, where players met developers and guest speaker Todd McFarlane. In February 2000, the fourth expansion, Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge, allowed access to areas previously limited to the Third Dawn client. In February 2003, the fifth expansion, Ultima Online: Age of Shadows, introduced custom home designs, more housing space, and a redesigned item system.

Ultima Online was the first MMORPG to reach 100,000 subscribers, far more than any game before it. Subscriber numbers peaked at about 250,000 in July 2003 but then declined. In February 2004, Origin Systems shut down, and Ultima Online no longer had a named studio managing it. Development moved from Austin to Fairfax, Virginia.

The sixth expansion, Samurai Empire (November 2004), added Japanese-themed areas, new professions (Ninja and Samurai), and housing. The seventh expansion, Mondain’s Legacy (August 2005), introduced Elves as a second player race, upgraded quests and crafting, and added new dungeons. This expansion was only available online. Updates became less frequent after this.

In June 2006, Electronic Arts bought Mythic Entertainment, the creators of Dark Age of Camelot, and assigned them to manage Ultima Online. The company also planned to add anti-cheating software called PunkBuster, but it was never used.

By 2008, Ultima Online had about 100,000 subscribers, but its market share was less than 0.6% of all MMORPGs. This decline may have been partly due to the 2004 release of World of Warcraft, which became very popular.

In August 2007, Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn was released, the first major update since Third Dawn. The final expansion was not completed.

Reception

Next Generation gave the game a 4 out of 5 star rating and said, "It's a very big world in there, full of lots of exciting things to try and accomplish, with more to be added over time and lots of real people around to know you did them. Brittania is what you make of it. Have fun." GameSpot rated the game 4.9 out of 10.

Predictions for Ultima Online's sales were low, as Electronic Arts president John Riccitiello said Ultima "was never a big franchise." An Origin Systems employee said the game was expected to have a maximum of 15,000 subscribers. However, Stefan Janicki of GameSpot later said the game "quickly became one of the most commercially successful games ever." CNNMoney called it a "watershed event" and the first major hit in the Internet-only game genre. In the United States, Ultima Online debuted at #9 on PC Data's computer game sales rankings for October 1997. It had a list price of $65, and its average street price was $55 for the month. A writer for CNET Gamecenter said the game was part of a trend of role-playing successes in October, along with Fallout and Lands of Lore 2: Guardians of Destiny. He said, "If October's list is any indication, RPGs are back." Between Ultima Online's launch on September 25 and November 13, the game sold 65,000 units. In Japan, its initial shipment of 5,000 units sold out within 15 minutes on shelves.

Ultima Online's sales rate was the fastest ever for an Internet-only game by 1997, and it led Electronic Arts to declare the title its fastest-selling computer game of all time. A writer for PC Gamer US said this speed caused "many reports of lost orders, delayed pre-orders and stores out of stock" when the game launched. In mid-November, Electronic Arts announced plans to ship an additional 80,000 units of Ultima Online worldwide, including 15,000 for Japan. Most of its first shipment was targeted at the United States. On November 20, the game became Japan's best-selling computer title of its launch month. Ultima Online reached 70,000 global subscribers by early December, with 8,000 in Japan and 5,000 in Europe. The game fell from PC Data's monthly top 20 for the United States during November, but the firm tracked 87,000 sales of Ultima Online in that country alone through the end of 1997.

By December 1998, Ultima Online had reached 100,000 subscribers, with an average of 12,500 players online at the same time and an average weekly playtime of 20 hours. IGN's staff said users "pay $9.95 a month to play the game. That's a million dollars in revenue a month. Twelve million dollars a year." The game reached 120,000 subscribers by March 1999, and by June, global sales had surpassed 200,000 units. A writer for GameDaily said this performance was "almost like printing money." Its subscriber base continued to grow in 2000, reaching 150,000 users by February. Domestically, Ultima Online and its Second Age add-on together had sold 249,610 copies and earned $11.3 million in retail revenue by early 2000, according to PC Data. Gamecenter's Mark Asher said, "Add in its current subscriber base of 150,000 players at $10 per month, and you can see the appeal of online, fee-based games." Subscribers rose to 165,000 by March, which amounted to $1.65 million in monthly revenue, and to 250,000 by October 2000.

By early 2001, Ultima Online's playerbase was estimated at 20–30% female, which was common for MMORPGs of the period. Japan remained a key market by July 2001, with 64,000 of the game's 240,000 subscribers. An Electronic Arts representative said, "While we do only a fraction of PC game business in Japan compared to EA's worldwide business, over 25 percent of Ultima Online business is done in Japan." Worldwide, Ultima Online retained 225,000 subscribers by early 2003.

Ultima Online was awarded "Online Game of the Year" and received a nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering" at the inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards (now called the D.I.C.E. Awards), presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Ultima Online's success led Guinness World Records to award the game eight world records in the 2008 Gamer's Edition. These records include "First MMORPG to Reach 100,000 Players," "Longest Running MMORPG," and "First and Only Person to Kill Lord British," which was done by a player named Rainz during a server reset. However, the "Longest Running MMORPG" award was later given to Furcadia, which was released nine months before Ultima Online. In May 2001, Ultima Online won the MPOGD game of the month award. In 2010, Ultima Online became the first inductee into the Game Developers Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame. In 2012, Stratics presented Ultima Online with a "Historic Achievement Award" to honor "fifteen years of innovation, imagination, and dedication in support of the Ultima Online community." Time named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time in November 2012.

Ultima Online had many serious bugs when it first came out, but most were fixed with patches over the next few months. This led to debates about whether the new technology for continuous patching would cause companies to release games in an unfinished or bug-ridden state, planning to fix problems after release.

Since the designers of Ultima Online wanted to give players freedom and a sense of agency, it was important to let players act as villains. The consequences of in-game criminality were adjusted over time, but the general commitment to player freedom remained. Designer Raph Koster said, "Being safe from evil is, in my mind, an uneven tradeoff for the fact that you don't get to be heroes anymore, in that you can just opt out of fighting evil. It may be nobody wants to be heroes except when it doesn't count, when it isn't challenging, that people would rather fight 'pretend evil' than the real thing, but I don't personally believe that. I still think people are better than that."

Ultima Online was sued by former player volunteers ("Counselors") and settled in 2004 without admitting wrongdoing. AOL had its volunteers train customer service personnel it hired, then shut down the volunteer program. Concern over future lawsuits led Microsoft to shut down its volunteer program for Asheron's Call.

Expansions and follow-up releases

Throughout the history of Ultima Online, the game has received many major updates. Expansion packs have been released often, and each adds new content such as new areas, artwork, quests, items, or game rules.

Electronic Arts provides the standard software that players use to connect to Ultima Online servers. Some other software, made by outside companies, was also used by players.

The 3D version of the game was first released with the Ultima Online: Third Dawn expansion. However, it received poor reviews because of technical problems, such as memory leaks, and lower quality graphics. In 2006, an update made characters and creatures in the game smaller. By early 2007, Electronic Arts stopped supporting the Third Dawn client, and attention shifted to the Kingdom Reborn client and its later version, the Enhanced Client. The Third Dawn client is no longer allowed to connect to Ultima Online servers.

Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn was announced in August 2006 and released on August 27, 2007. Developers gave players clues through in-game events that led to a website link containing a message and a video showing improved graphics. The new client included better graphics, a simpler interface, and features like keyboard shortcuts, adjustable inventory settings, and a redesigned character menu. These changes made the game look more modern and easier to update, while still allowing it to run on older computers. Electronic Arts called the Kingdom Reborn client "2.5d," meaning it used 3D technology but was adapted to work like 2D for better performance on less powerful computers. The client is available for free download.

Electronic Arts initially said the Kingdom Reborn client would replace the older version of the game. By September 2009, the Kingdom Reborn client was replaced by a newer version called the "Enhanced Client." The Kingdom Reborn client no longer works on official game servers. The Enhanced Client kept the same technology for displaying graphics and lighting effects from Kingdom Reborn but used older graphics similar to the original 2D version. Support for the Enhanced Client ended before the release of the Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss expansion to simplify updates.

A newer version of the Kingdom Reborn client, renamed the "Enhanced Client," was introduced with the Stygian Abyss expansion. It was released as a test version in July 2009. Changes included better macro commands, a more customizable interface, updated maps, and improved graphics. However, the high-quality graphics from the Kingdom Reborn client were replaced with lower-resolution graphics similar to the original 2D version. These older graphics were previously available in the Kingdom Reborn client as an optional choice.

Ultima Online has had several special releases that were not expansions or booster packs but included extra items or in-game features.

• Ultima Online: Charter Edition (September 30, 1997): Available for pre-order before the game launched and sold in limited quantities with the standard retail box. It included a signed artwork print by the Hilderbrandt brothers, a metal pin with the game's logo, and a cloth map. It also provided three months of game access, compared to one month in the standard box.
• Ultima Online: Discovery Edition (February 1, 2000): Released in Australia and New Zealand at the same time as the Oceania server launch for those regions.
• Ultima Online: 7th Anniversary (September 25, 2004): A special release to celebrate the game's seventh birthday. It included a recently updated version of the game on a CD, a cardboard box with a triple-CD case featuring Ultima Online: Age of Shadows and Ultima IX: Ascension discs, a booklet with game history, and a code for an in-game gift, extra character slots, and buddy registration codes.
• Ultima Online: Gold (July 18, 2005): Sold by Wal-Mart and included the same content as Ultima Online: Samurai Empire. It came with an Advanced Character token code and a quick-start guide.
• Ultima Online: The Eighth Age (September 25, 2005): A boxed CD release to celebrate the game's eighth birthday. It included a patched game CD, a booklet with a map of Sosaria, in-game tokens for an anniversary gift (8 options), a character transfer, an advanced character, a 45-day free trial code, and a time-limited blue soul stone.
• Ultima Online: 9th Anniversary Collection (October 31, 2006): Formerly called "Eve of a New Age." It included an in-game code to redeem 9 "Heritage Tokens" and items like "Crystal" and "Shadow" themed housing decorations. These items included NPCs that could announce a player's presence in a house or follow them on the map. Heritage Tokens could also be used to obtain special armor, weapons, and house decorations in various themes.

Legacy

Two sequels were planned by Electronic Arts, but both were canceled during development to allow more attention to the original game.

• Ultima Online 2, later renamed Ultima Worlds Online: Origin, was announced in 1999. It aimed to add steampunk elements to the fantasy world, set in a place where the past, present, and future of Sosaria were merged by a mistake made by Lord British while trying to combine the shards of the Gem of Immortality. Todd McFarlane was hired to design new monsters and areas for the game and help shape the story. The project was canceled in 2001 before release, due to competition in the massively multiplayer online gaming market. Electronic Arts worried the sequel might reduce subscriptions for Ultima Online. Some monsters and art from the game were later used in the Ultima Online expansion Lord Blackthorn's Revenge.

• Ultima X: Odyssey was a new MMORPG set in a world named Alucinor, created by the Avatar after the events of Ultima IX: Ascension. The project was canceled in 2004 when Electronic Arts closed Origin. The Odyssey team was asked to move to the Bay Area to finish the game, but few accepted the transfer. Eventually, the game was canceled because the development team dissolved.

During the game's May 1996 alpha testing, more than a dozen player-created guilds formed.

Shadowclan became well-known in the online gaming community in 1997 by taking the role of non-player character orcs in Ultima Online. Former clan administrator Ogur discussed Shadowclan in Massively Multiplayer Games For Dummies. A mention of Shadowclan was included in the official documentation for Dark Age of Camelot.

Fans of Ultima Online reverse-engineered the game to create copies of the original Electronic Arts servers.

In early 1999, some users began selling their accounts. One account received a winning bid of $2025 (equivalent to $3,914 in 2025).