Ultima Online is actually about to launch a new server – specifically, a New Legacy server for the Japanese region.
The 27-year-old MMORPG has a long history with the Japanese fanbase. The OG game launched in Japan in 1999, only a handful of years after launching in the west; back in 2001, PC Gamer printed that the Japanese playerbase accounted for a quarter of the game’s players. Scuttlebutt says that a few years year ago, it was more like half. To date, there are still eight Japanese UO servers (separate from the Oceania, Korean, and Taiwanese shards – Asuka seem to be the biggest, rivaling USA’s Atlantic and SK’s Arirang), and I’ve no doubt that Japan’s bewildering enthusiasm for the game is why in 2004 we got what I consider to be the best expansion UO ever released: the Japanese-mythology-flavored Samurai Empire expansion.
In any case, now Japan is getting a server for New Legacy, which is the themeparkish alternative-ruleset shard that UO launched last fall. We just don’t have a date yet!
“We are pleased to announce we will be launching New Legacy in Japan this spring! The New Legacy Japan server will offer our Japanese players the chance to forge their own legacy! Join Fenneko & Ryoko on their adventures in Ultima Online!”
