Ultima Online Subscription Numbers (Not Official)

Galluccio

Total Players: 344,965.  I found this number surprising since I thought the most players Ultima Online had was about 245,000 after Trammel was introduced. 

Daily Players: 13,109

The Number 61st MMO on their list.

That information is a bit confusing since they also have a graph showing that only 16,000 are active players.

I'm guessing that the 344,965 means the total number of people who have ever subscribed to the game.  In that case, I would find that number to be low.  On the other hand, I don't see that being active subscribers.  The chart could be active players who play the game or active people who actually pay a subscription fee.  The wording is confusing. 

On the other hand they have World of Warcraft at 115 Million subscribers... in that case they must be the total number of people who have ever subscribed.  That would make more sense. I can see them having 6.1 Million current subscribers. 

So, we are going to be going with the current subscribers of Ultima Online at 13,109.  Yeah.  That is lower than their high point of about 245,000.   

This is how Ultima Online gets a boost--everyone playing on "another shard" (I'm being as vague as I can here without having to spell it out) gets off them and starts paying a subscription fee.

What would happen if I started to sell McDonald's food?  How long would that last.  (Don't talk more about this or the thread will close.  Just let this die now)

Source: https://mmo-population.com/r/ultimaonline

Tim

Just one comment 

The site you source is an add service and I can't find any description of where they get their numbers. I know EA and the others do not release their numbers so I would be interested where the numbers come from.

Pawain

So the daily population right now is the highest it has been in 5 years? 

Cookie

Pretty solid numbers actually.

In a way, they have probably had a boost from the last year of Coronavirus, but the game is holding up as well.

The difference between 13k and 16k isn't much, the 13k is for the month, the 16k may be an annualised average, either way they are in the same ballpark for active daily players.

The 345k is probably total current subscribers, who are not playing daily. Probably correct also. Possibly includes EJ accounts? That would be the reason it is above previous highest recorded. Not sure on that one.

Either way, decent figures I think.

WoW was in a league of it's own when it came out, polished to perfection with massive backing. Nothing really compares to their numbers, and unfair to do so tbh.

quickblade

Thse numbers are no where near the reality.
There is around 200-400 online players on atlantic prime time , and probably 25% of them are afk.
For all the other shards it varies from 20ish to 60ish for some others. Times X that by 25 shards and add atlantic, thats around  1300 online players , at any time, maybe 1500 at it's very best.

Norry

Now break it into 4 hour blocks, and realise people have multiple accounts.so, 1300 x 6=7800. And then, just suggest around 1 extra account per real account(i have heard someone had over 70 paid accounts at 1 point, and most players i know have 2), and your at 15600.

Aayla

I don't know how about accurate this is because I look under my favourite game of all time - Star Wars Galaxies and it still has 8425 daily players this month and the game has been shut down 10 years ago ...

Bilbo

Go count every house on every prodo shard and that will give you the minimum number of accounts UO has and as far as max who knows but one thing is for sure there are enough people paying EA for the right to play UO to keep it open and that is the bottom line.

Bizarro

I wouldn't put much faith into non-official sources for this. The only thing we can really conclude is that the game is profitable enough to keep the lights on and to justify new content.

Seth

I think all the castles on my shard is taken up (including Fel), Luna city has almost 95% fully placed houses. For a low pop shard its doing very well!

JohnKnighthawke

The site is very clear that their numbers are estimates. Here is their exact quote;

[It's difficult to track hidden MMO subscriber numbers, but we do our best!

By combining online social activity, sentiment tracking, public statistics, rankings and more MMO Populations estimates the total subscribers, players and active daily players for the top MMOs. Above is the total number of tracked players by the site. ]

In other words they do some kind of formalized version of what I've done informally, and with a smaller subset of MMOs, for years and they have come to similar conclusions. I'm sure they work hard at it. But it's not the same thing as having an officially reported number directly from the source -- whether it's in a Press Release or in an annual report to EA stockholders or something.

In the old days the population numbers were in Press Releases. There was some other site that used to compile those numbers to make similar charts and tables. After the convention changed to not report subscription numbers publicly, that site kept going for a long while but I don't know what their source was. That older site usually showed a peak after Age of Shadows, then a drop-off (presumably as we old time players got frustrated with the AOS system).

Bizarro said this:

[The only thing we can really conclude is that the game is profitable enough to keep the lights on and to justify new content.]

and honestly that's the only objectively good take we can have, unless and until some numbers are released. We're still here and EA isn't in the habit of promoting products it hates (and let's face it: they hate us) if they don't bring in the cash.

quickblade

No norris the numbers I said is already counting the multiple clients an average player has

Fortis

dont forget some people dont play each week or month...many have active accounts and play rarely...no one can give accurate numbers...only them know

Bilbo

@Fortis stop using your brain it confuses the subject, just like me saying go count all the houses to get the min number of subscribers. 

Bilbo

@JohnKnighthawke EA NEVER released any numbers of players in any form what so ever, it was one of the most highly guarded secret in the gaming world.  Those old papers you are talking about are somewhere on the web so please post us a link to them when you find them.

Bilbo

@quickblade where are you getting your numbers from?  How many are paid and how many are EJ?  Do you have access to the servers/account management?  How many houses is UO storing?  How many paid/EJ accounts do I have?  How many total accounts are in my name Pain/EJ/Unused accounts?  Could you tell me which unpaid account has all my goodies so I can resub it to get them?  You appear to know everything so I thought you could help me out.

Bilbo

@Galluccio people have been trying to figure out this info for 23+ years and nobody has yet to do it because EA refuses to let that info out.  Pre AoS every shard was full and not every player had a house so who really knows how many people UO really had and yes there were a lot of castle/keep spots being taken up by smaller houses.  Every house on every prodo shard has an a [aid account tied to it so that would give you an estimate as to the min population and also keep in mind that Atl probably has players on it that do not have a house even though that is their main shard.  You will never know the # of people playing because like others I have more that one account and yes all my accounts have a house but they are not on Atl as I like the quiet of the burbs and take a trip to the big city when I need to, otherwise I am very happy to walk out my door and breath clean air and jump out my tractor just to mow my lawn.

Jepeth

Bilbo said:

@ JohnKnighthawke EA NEVER released any numbers of players in any form what so ever, it was one of the most highly guarded secret in the gaming world.  Those old papers you are talking about are somewhere on the web so please post us a link to them when you find them.

This one

This one, too

Found those two just via Google. Via a simple Lexis news search you get:

This lists 200k players:
(November 10, 2000, Friday). EA's Ultima Online To Enter New Dimension; Ultima Online: Third Dawn to Feature 3-D Characters, New Lands and Monsters; Unveiling Takes Place at Inaugural UO World Faire. Business Wire. https://advance-lexis-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:41MM-X5P0-00RH-4518-00000-00&context=1516831.


This lists 150k players:
(February 24, 2000, Thursday). Ultima Online Reaches 150,000 Paying Subscribers; Pioneering Virtual World Hits New Record; Electronic Arts and ORIGIN to Ship New Ultima Online Release in April. Business Wire. https://advance-lexis-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:3YN6-HFH0-00RH-400M-00000-00&context=1516831.


This lists 225k players:
(October 31, 2001, Wednesday). Todd McFarlane to Collaborate On New Version of Ultima Online; Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge to Feature More Than 30 New Monsters. Business Wire. https://advance-lexis-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:44BB-KF40-010G-02B4-00000-00&context=1516831.


This one says it was the first to hit 100k players:
(August 24, 2006 Thursday). EA Announces Ultima Online(TM): Kingdom Reborn (Working Title); The Game That Firmly Established the MMORPG Genre Receives a Massive Visual Overhaul and New Content In 2007 . Business Wire. https://advance-lexis-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:4KR7-X8M0-TW8C-J1GS-00000-00&context=1516831.

There's about 5,000 hits on this database. Would you like more?

Jepeth

These are actually super fun. Take a look at this press release from the end of Beta (I've highlighted some places of interest for you.)

Sept. 24, 1997--Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), a leading global interactive entertainment software company, made history today by shipping its record-setting title, Ultima(TM) Online.

The most ambitious and widely anticipated online game ever developed, Ultima Online brings to life the fantasy land of Britannia(TM) as a living, persistent, virtual world that exists only on the Internet.

Ultima Online, the groundbreaking fantasy role playing game, was developed during the past two years at ORIGIN Systems, Electronic Arts' (EA) subsidiary in Austin, Texas. More than 25,000 people from around the world paid to participate in a four-month beta test, which began in June and concluded yesterday. Unlike most other online or multiplayer offerings that support groups ranging from two to eight players per game, Ultima Online was designed from the ground up to provide a "massively multiplayer" experience supporting thousands of gamers simultaneously over the Internet -- in the same game.

Complete with a virtual ecology, economic system, limited natural resources, day/night cycles and an underlying ethical code of behavior, players from around the world create their own unique characters, called "avatars," who live, work and play in Britannia. Ongoing interaction among players and with the world of Britannia at large drives the story line and delivers a new and different experience each time players visit Britannia.

Additionally, thousands of computer-generated characters and creatures enhance the player experience by inhabiting this living world 24 hours a day.

The total game geography covers more than 189 million square feet of stunning 3-D terrain that depicts a variety of climates and regions -- arid deserts, tropical islands, forests, swamps, mountains, underworld regions and more. Showing the entire game surface area at once would require 38,000 17-inch monitors -- nearly enough to occupy a football field. It can take up to eight full hours for players to travel from one end of the main continent to the other and hundreds of hours more to explore the entire virtual world.

"Ultima Online is a revolutionary game, truly unique in its scope and vision," said David Cole, president of DFC Intelligence, a leading market research firm that covers computer and online gaming. "Electronic Arts is stepping forward to become a leading creative force in online gaming."

Ultima Online, widely described as a watershed title most likely to represent the future of online gaming, was produced by Richard Garriott, the creative genius behind the Ultima series, and an internationally acclaimed gaming industry legend. "Ultima Online has been a dream of the Ultima development team for many years -- to create a living, organic world where the story is ever changing. For the first time in gaming history, thousands of players can inhabit the same virtual world, cooperating and competing just like in real life," said Garriott.

Ultima Online requires software from the game CD-ROM, but the game is played entirely on the Internet. For the protection of gameplayers, information about each player's avatars -- such as skills learned, items purchased, made or acquired, property owned, and a history of good and evil deeds -- is maintained on ORIGIN's servers.

To begin exploring the game world, players will get free access to Ultima Online for an introductory period. At the conclusion of the complementary period, players will receive unlimited gameplay for a monthly flat-fee of $ 9.95.

"We chose flat-rate pricing because we wanted to provide an immersive game experience that didn't require players to keep one eye on the computer monitor and the other on the clock," said Chris Yates, ORIGIN's vice president and chief technology officer. He continued, "Internet gaming of this magnitude is new to most players. We wanted to offer a compelling price point to encourage players to get online and into the game."

As with any online specific product, players will need an Internet Service Provider. Each Ultima Online package will include 30 days of AT&T WorldNet(sm) Internet service and a copy of Netscape Navigator(TM).
 
Ultima Online Facts and Figures
 
During the unprecedented Ultima Online beta test, ORIGIN staff logged some notable statistics, including:
 
-- Approximately 20 percent of the beta players were from outside

the U.S., with gamers participating from such countries as

Japan, Germany, Denmark, Slovenia and the Portuguese territory

of Macau.
 
-- The age of players ranged from 12 to 60 years old.
 
-- The highest number of simultaneous players during the test

period was 2,850, which established a world record for gaming

in the same virtual world.
 
-- The daily average number of players simultaneously visiting Britannia

was approximately 2,000.
 
-- Peak daily playing periods were from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. (CST) on

weekdays, and from 6:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. (CST) on weekends.

More information on Ultima Online can be found on the Internet at http://www.ultimaonline.com . The Web site, which features a complete background of the game's online fantasy world, averages 150,000 user sessions per day and approximately eight million hits per week.

Pawain

So more than 20k had Beta accounts.  2,000 daily players.

So using that ratio for 13,000 daily players.  That means there are  _______  Accounts.

I don't do math.  Is it 130k accounts?

JohnKnighthawke

Thank you @Jepeth . I hadn't looked forward to trying to find 15 to 20 year old press releases.

Bilbo

I will give you that someone released a PR Statement saying that UO has over 150,000 subs 20 years ago so that is how you came up with your numbers, OK got ya.

JohnKnighthawke

@Bilbo ; You made a very specific claim.

[EA NEVER released any numbers of players in any form what so ever]

@Jepeth proved you wrong with multiple PR pieces. It's that simple.

They haven't done it in a long time but they used to. I was very clear that conventions changed, and they stopped doing it.

Bilbo

JohnKnighthawke said:

@ Bilbo  You made a very specific claim.

[EA NEVER released any numbers of players in any form what so ever]

@ Jepeth proved you wrong with multiple PR pieces. It's that simple.

They haven't done it in a long time but they used to. I was very clear that conventions changed, and they stopped doing it.

That was one PR piece but you are right 

Jepeth

I’m sorry, did you not understand each piece was from a different press release article?

Hera_Siege

Jepeth said:

More than 25,000 people from around the world paid to participate in a four-month beta test, 

To hijack the thread a bit, good times in Beta!  Ok, maybe not so much with the hourly resets [that continued into release for a while], but had a lot of fun.  A friend I met playing Diablo on my 486 dx2 - 66 mhz  convinced me to sign up for the beta and I was fortunate enough to be accepted.

Bilbo

Jepeth said:

I’m sorry, did you not understand each piece was from a different press release article?

those links are broken so I have no idea where they were from.  The top two worked, looks like a PR release and the other was an article using the same numbers.

Jepeth

Bilbo said:

Jepeth said:

I’m sorry, did you not understand each piece was from a different press release article?

those links are broken so I have no idea where they were from.  The top two worked, looks like a PR release and the other was an article using the same numbers.

You don't understand how press releases work, do you?

Edit: You know what, let's engage here.

First, the links aren't broken. As I said, they were pulled from the Lexis archive. If you don't have access to that through your place of employment try your local library.

Second, both of the Google links are press releases. Everything I posted was. Because you incorrectly claimed EA had never released numbers.

Third, I don't think you even read the two hits from Google because just now you claim they were using the same numbers. That's incorrect as one lists 150k subscribers in February of 2000 and the other lists 200k in November of 2000. 

Press releases are corporate communication tools used by organizations to deliver carefully constructed messages to journalists. These press releases are, by their very definition, all from the same source: EA. EA's official communiques about Ultima Online.

Bilbo

LOL The first one is a press release and the second one is an article talking about the press release and you seriously want to use that site as a reference well let go.

You use a press release from 2000 stating UO population reaching 150K and then you use what ever that site is as proof, did you not check your sources, here let me quote your source, now this is funny.  "This one says it was the first to hit 100k players: (August 24, 2006 Thursday)."

So in 2000 we hit the magic mark of 150K and in 2006 we hit the magic mark of 100K  WOW that is remarkable.

The only one that shows the number is the one that references the PR release from EA but no others show the number just your word, show the EA Doc.

Why was it every time anybody that worked for EA on Ultima Online gave a standard we are not allowed to say even Lord British himself was not allowed to say but you have 5000 posts saying just the opposite.

I gave you the press release because that appears to be real but all the rest prove nothing so ONCE in over 23 years EA released a population number as an advertisement to promote an upcoming release.

I already admitted that I was wrong so I will amend my statement 20 years ago EA released a statement that there was over 150K population to promote an upcoming release but has NEVER done it again.  This is proven by all the web sites that try to guess UOs population because all of them say they do not have ANY hard evidence to prove their numbers.  Guess they all didn't have you working for them.

As far as your 2nd google proof goes the so call 200K show no proof, that is a reporter that is guesstamating a number and just like all true reporters.

Mariah

I believe @Bizarro said all that needs to be said on this topic.