Ultima Online 2 heads for China.

[Arthur_Parker]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ea-to-redesign-ultima-for-china

EA to redesign Ultima for China

Electronic Arts is planning to release an updated version of classic Western MMO Ultima Online into the Chinese market.

The game - the original of which launched the careers of Richard Garriott and Raph Koster among others - will be redeveloped by teams at EA Mythic and Hong Kong-based NetDragon Websoft.

"We are delighted to further our relationship with EA through the development of Ultima Online," said Liu Dejian, chairman and executive director of NetDragon. "Capitalising on our ability to create a strong online gaming experience, we are confident that Ultima Online will be a success in China and will also achieve remarkable results in the other markets where we'll operate the game."

And Jon Niermann, president of EA Asia, added: "Ultima Online is a well known EA property and we're delighted to bring the game to fans in China, Hong Kong, Macau and India. NetDragon is a proven partner and we're confident in their expertise to build and operate a great gaming experience for players."

The move by EA is the latest in a bid to try and gain greater traction in the Asian market, and follows the success of FIFA Online in the territory in the past couple of years.

It will also be a direct rival to Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft, currently offline but thought to be relaunching soon after issues with changing operators in the country.

带回前铸造biyotch

[Trippy]

The game - the original of which launched the careers of Richard Garriott

[WayAbvPar]

Will their servers be filled with American gold farmers?

[Arthur_Parker]

http://ir.netdragon.us/content/2009-07-21/20090721211510467.shtml

EA and NetDragon Enter Agreement to Develop Ultima Online

Hong Kong, July 22 /PRNewswire Asia/ -- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and NetDragon Websoft Inc., a leading game developer and operator in China (“NetDragon”, with its subsidiaries collectively know as the “Group”; stock code: 777), today announced a licensing agreement for the development of a new massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) based on “Ultima Online”TM from Electronic Arts. As part of the agreement, NetDragon will develop the new Ultima Online™ in collaboration with EA’s Mythic Entertainment, and have the exclusive operating license for China, Hong Kong, Macau and India.
 
“We are delighted to further our relationship with EA through the development of Ultima Online™,” said Mr. Liu Dejian, Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon. “Capitalizing on our ability to create a strong online gaming experience, we are confident that Ultima Online™ will be a success in China and will also achieve remarkable results in the other markets where we'll operate the game."
 
Jon Niermann, President of EA Asia said, “Ultima Online™ is a well known EA property and we’re delighted to bring the game to fans in China, Hong Kong, Macau and India. NetDragon is a proven partner and we’re confident in their expertise to build and operate a great gaming experience for players”.
 
Rob Denton, General Manager and Vice President of Mythic Entertainment added “We’re thrilled to be able to work with NetDragon to bring the pioneering Ultima Online to a new audience in these exciting markets.”
 
About NetDragon:
NetDragon Websoft Inc. is one of the leading online game developers and operators in the PRC. The Group's game portfolio comprises a range of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) that cater to various types of players and gaming preferences. The Group has successfully developed and marketed many popular online titles of various styles. Its current offerings include the games Way of the Five, Eudemons Online, Conquer Online, Zero Online, Tou Ming Zhuang Online and Heroes of Might and Magic Online. Some of the games are also available in foreign languages, including English, French and Spanish. The Group also has four games currently in development, including Tian Yuan, Disney Fantasy Online, Dungeon KeeperTM Online and CJ7 Online, which are expected to be launched from 2009.

None of the news sites appear to be considering that this might have a western release as well.  NetDragon "have the exclusive operating license for China, Hong Kong, Macau and India", but it doesn't automatically follow that EA won't release it anywhere else.

[Lucas]

BEATING DEAD HORSE EMOTE, FOLLOWED BY APPARENTLY SERIOUS BUT STILL USELESS AND TOTALLY OFF THE POINT ANALYSYS OF THE NEWS.



Umm...Oh wait, wrong topic.

STUPID EMOT..I mean  

[Azaroth]

So... what's going on exactly?

[UnSub]

EA's realised that there are Asian MMO developers who want access to a cheap (read: old) MMO engine with a known brand attached.

I think we'll see more of this - the licensing of the engine of existing titles, perhaps as offshoots. One advantage of this is that the PC specs needed to run such games won't be anywhere near top-end, which gives it a large potential audience.

[Azaroth]

Here's what I'm curious about:

Provided we're not talking about the creation of an entirely new game (which may or may not be the case... but the wording all seems a little sketchy to me) then... where does this become all that profitable for EA? I mean, aside from "something is better than nothing"?

Whether it ends up F2P or pulling in premium monthly RMB, how many players can UO (even somewhat reimagined) really pull over in China?

Are we talking about a few hundred thousand if they're lucky? What's their cut of that 50 cents/player or whatever? Besides that, the licensing fee couldn't have realistically been that big either...

Is this just a shot in the dark praying for miraculously huge numbers in China? Hail Mary, etc?

Or am I just not understanding something here.

[Azaroth]

The game - the original of which launched the careers of Richard Garriott

You can tell that mofo was making bank after that. I found Ultima 7 on the shelf of my local Best Buy only a few years after UO came out. They were capitalizing on that success hardcore.

I couldn't figure out how to run it though. It's an old phone kind of.

[Ratman_tf]

Ching-Chong Ping-Pong!

[Arthur_Parker]

EA's realised that there are Asian MMO developers who want access to a cheap (read: old) MMO engine with a known brand attached.

I think we'll see more of this - the licensing of the engine of existing titles, perhaps as offshoots. One advantage of this is that the PC specs needed to run such games won't be anywhere near top-end, which gives it a large potential audience.

I think it's a new game, NetDragon are currently working on Dungeon Keeper online.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/12/02/ea-mum-on-dungeon-keeper/

If you were jumping up and down about yesterday's "Dungeon Keeper" MMO announcement, you might want to read this.

The franchise had been dormant since "Dungeon Keeper 2" was released in 1999, but rights holder Electronic Arts recently granted the license to Chinese MMO developer NetDragon for a "Dungeon Keeper" MMO specifically targeted at the Asian market.

Obviously, fans were excited. But when asked by MTV Multiplayer whether EA would consider the "Dungeon Keeper" MMO over here, the publisher was quiet.

"That release was targeted for China but went out in English because our agreement with NetDragon includes the possibility of publishing in other markets in the region," said an EA spokesperson in an e-mailed statement. "As for the West, we’re very aware of 'Dungeon Keeper'’s intense fan base, but we’re not making any announcements related to publishing the game in North America or Europe."

So if NetDragon have the ability to create a mmo from scratch, why would they license an ancient one?

Edit, Looks like I'm wrong.

When contacted, representatives at Mythic Entertainment confirmed the project, but made clear that this its aim is to bring the UO experience to those foreign markets, not to create a sequel.

[Endie]

Where is WUA these days, anyway?

[raydeen]

Where is WUA these days, anyway?

In Beijing, frothing with anticipation.

[Yegolev]

You can tell that mofo was making bank after that. I found Ultima 7 on the shelf of my local Best Buy only a few years after UO came out. They were capitalizing on that success hardcore.

I couldn't figure out how to run it though. It's an old phone kind of.

I have U7 on 5.25" floppies.

[Lantyssa]

Provided we're not talking about the creation of an entirely new game (which may or may not be the case... but the wording all seems a little sketchy to me) then... where does this become all that profitable for EA? I mean, aside from "something is better than nothing"?

Licensing rights.

[jason]

Obviously, it is impossible to know without seeing the contracts, but it could be that EA's rights to the Ultima property might expire if they go X timeframe without releasing a product.  Releasing UO in China may be nothing more than a way to prevent EA from losing the rights (and having them revert back to Richard, or someone else).

[WindupAtheist]

Where is WUA these days, anyway?

In 20 years when you're all playing Starcraft Galaxies III: The Search for Curly's Gold, I'll be rattling around some Bangladeshi UO server like Rambo at the beginning of that last movie. Too burned out for the real world after the Great Trammel Wars, I'll just tame snakes and redecorate my hovel every two weeks until some fucker shows up with a thread full of charts and it's time to spring back into action.

Actually, I saw this earlier but didn't bother to post it. /shrug

[Trippy]

Obviously, it is impossible to know without seeing the contracts, but it could be that EA's rights to the Ultima property might expire if they go X timeframe without releasing a product.  Releasing UO in China may be nothing more than a way to prevent EA from losing the rights (and having them revert back to Richard, or someone else).

No. They own all of Origin's IP rights since they bought that company. The only exception was the trademark on "Lord British" which was still owned by Richard Garriott but that trademark is no longer valid (expired in 2007).

[UnSub]

I see it as being very simple: NetDragon wants another MMO it can put out in netcafes all over China - one with a known franchise behind it is even better. EA wants to see how such a relationship could work and it doesn't care about UO that much anyway.

I don't know if the licensing of engines like Gamebryo with Mythic would stop it happening, but if it worked other EA-owned MMOs could also be licensed out for easy money. And EA's MMOs need that easy money or else EA will shut them down.

[Sheepherder]

I don't know if the licensing of engines like Gamebryo with Mythic would stop it happening, but if it worked other EA-owned MMOs could also be licensed out for easy money. And EA's MMOs need that easy money or else EA will shut them down.

There's probably a good reason that Blizzard makes it's own engines even when it doesn't monetize them by selling licenses.

[sinij]

The game - the original of which launched the careers of Richard Garriott

It did eject his career into space.

My take on Asia-only is that they want to tailor rules to appeal to locals. Probably more PKing and grinding than NA market can handle.

[Slyfeind]

In 20 years when you're all playing Starcraft Galaxies III: The Search for Curly's Gold, I'll be rattling around some Bangladeshi UO server like Rambo at the beginning of that last movie. Too burned out for the real world after the Great Trammel Wars, I'll just tame snakes and redecorate my hovel every two weeks until some fucker shows up with a thread full of charts and it's time to spring back into action.

LOL! 

[Azaroth]

I want to know what this deal looks like so very badly.