If you were waiting to try Ultima Online when it launches on Steam as devs have been promising for over a year now since it was greenlit there, prepare to keep on waiting. Broadsword Producer Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong helms a new Ultima Online newsletter this week that says her studio is simply waiting on EA to give the go-ahead.
“UO cannot go onto Steam unless EA gives its final approval,” she writes. “We do not have an answer as to when UO will be going to steam.”
Armstrong says that publish 93 is planned for May and that in June, it will begin selling a new conversion currency called Sovereigns in the Origin store (which already dispenses a few dozen cash shop bundles and items for the game). That move has prompted some players to worry that the game might be going free-to-play, but Broadsword has soundly rejected those rumors. “UO is not going FTP,” Armstrong told players on Stratics just over a month ago, “and if and when it does, we will talk to you guys about it when and if we ever start the planning for it.”
Armstrong also teases a real-world party for the MMORPG’s 20th birthday (in 2017). Post-publish 93, Broadsword aims to roll out a number of vet rewards and seasonal events, including summer, Halloween, winter holidays, and the 19th anniversary, which might placate players disappointed with the spring events to date.
