EA has been sold

A new era has begun.
EA has been privated.

Y'all at BS better have a new corporate culture ready to go.
I'm gonna do a wild guest.. the fury will be the first to go, followed by the old guard.


You better rethink the affiliates and make a front store ASAP.. let's buy some time.


We going up or ...

If UO is profitable, it will survive in some form.  If not, we're doomed.

I mean, largest levered buyout on record.

Numbers vary but I believe the 20 billion number is accurate. (almost 40%)
They also overpaid, estimate at 25%


Money is not everything here,
We now playing by the Saudi rules.

EA being privated is huge:
-cut into the fat -AI -squeeze profit -sell some asset/IP - ❤️ EA sport ❤️

As Kyronix posted to the Discord yesterday; 

Kyronix — Yesterday at 9:17 AM 
We have no intention of going anywhere

Should I tell her, or..?

It's noted, thanks.

Was sold to Jared Kusher, if anyone doesnt know who he is well lets just say lets MAGA or should it be MUOGA ? either way im sure there goin to be interesting times ahead.

Whitewolf said:

Was sold to Jared Kusher, if anyone doesnt know who he is well lets just say lets MAGA or should it be MUOGA ? either way im sure there goin to be interesting times ahead.

Please leave your politics out of this. It has nothing to do with this sale.

@Whitewolf
Where I live there is law.. like if a company made here want to sell and be bought by an external power.. politic can be involve.


All i'm saying is, yes.. the trump clan share some interest with the Saudi, but if you ask me.. here, they just sit and look pretty to bag some money to ease the transaction.

But yeah, the Furry comment; you nailed itwith your MAGA.


Let's be wild and dream:
If you ask me, the best that could happen is if a company like Sony see the potential of UO.

There is so much that could happen.. like i'm pretty sure there is people crazy enough to still trust Garriot and land him some money.

If we being realistic.. Bioware and BS should be on the receiving end.
Personally, I still believe.. the actual team did some moves recently.. the third client.. working on the CC.. pretty sure they did other stuff too but it's hard to see.. cuz of the conditions.

Keep this conversation civil and topical, please. Thank you.

Something I'm keeping in mind. EA liked the 'kudos' of having the oldest, consistently running, MMORPG, even if they weren't especially interested in the game as such. 
That status is something that is also likely to appeal to the new owners.

I'm sure this will bring many jobs to the US. 

/s. Since @KroDuK does not understand sarcasm.

@KroDuK you love to use certain terms to describe people you don’t like as if is an insult and can’t help claiming they will be the first to be fired, and you’d be wrong, that’s not how this stuff works and the team is so lean that if they cut anybody, they will cut everybody.  

Intentions (dogma) and outcomes (reality) are two separate beasts.

Thx.

@Lokea is beating up the messengers for pointing out the obvious.. I didn't bring any pitchfork nor torches.. This is, what it is.

SOE is the last company you want buying UO.  They destroyed SWG.

To be fair, I was going with logic.. I wouldn't be surprise if a japanese studio would have interest in UO. Then I was thinking about everquest and sony pop-up.

But yeah, if it was a democracy my vote would go for a japanese studio

PS: I also have memories of everquest next.. they were dreaming BIG. (they also "destroyed" that at Sony)
PS2: i'd argu SWG was ruined by players... mainly ^^

KroDuK said:

@ Lokea is beating up the messengers for pointing out the obvious.. I didn't bring any pitchfork nor torches.. This is, what it is.

You could have said "community manager" and left it at that, you could have even said they'll cut support (GMs), and community management, and player engagement (EMs) first, but you didn't - you chose to target an individual you don't like.

This is not the first time you've done this - you've got a reputation for it.

Like I said, as lean as the team is, if they make any cuts, it'll be everybody. This is not 2005 or 2015. There's not much left to trim.

I've made my guesses known elsewhere - putting aside shutting it down because it doesn't generate enough profit, it could be sold off (which has a decent chance of going horribly wrong), or we could end up with a true free-to-play (aka pay-to-play) model with a lot of micro-transactions (housing is its own fee every month, access to certain areas is its own fee, new content is its own fee, etc.).

I feel fairly confident they will shut down the third-party shards - Daybreak and Blizzard/Microsoft have had recent success shutting down third-parties, and the new owners have plenty of lawyers looking for something to do.  They'll see those shards as profiting off of their IP and that's a big no-no with these kinds of things. Any of those shards asking for donations made a huge mistake.

As long as we keep supporting the game there shouldn't be a problem. 

Lokea said:

I've made my guesses known elsewhere - putting aside shutting it down because it doesn't generate enough profit, it could be sold off (which has a decent chance of going horribly wrong), or we could end up with a true free-to-play (aka pay-to-play) model with a lot of micro-transactions (housing is its own fee every month, access to certain areas is its own fee, new content is its own fee, etc.).

I feel fairly confident they will shut down the third-party shards - Daybreak and Blizzard/Microsoft have had recent success shutting down third-parties, and the new owners have plenty of lawyers looking for something to do.  They'll see those shards as profiting off of their IP and that's a big no-no with these kinds of things. Any of those shards asking for donations made a huge mistake.

I don't know anything about the laws, but how is a foreign company going to control another countries web content?   This company did not make UO. Free shards can remove UO from the name, the new owners would not know to look for them.
Would they want to spend money on lawyers if the cost is more than the profit from the game?

Not many of those players would come to UO anyway.

But it's a pleasant thought that it would happen.

Lokea said:

This is not the first time you've done this - you've got a reputation for it.

kk.. You are pushing your luck..

I can prove you are the type of individual to profile someone with lies & misinformation!!
@Skett

Stop making up stories/lies to fit your false narratives.
I hate everyone equally.. without any discrimination!! *roll eyes*


Just think about it one second and stop with the preconceived opinions..
What is the first thing u see while looking up for UO.. like on official socials media?

If they build a dock-it, wich they will in time, the new management won't even have the time to meet with the old guard and it's already gonna be a done deal.
If u can't see it, tell me i'm wrong. I'll agree to disagree.

Lokea said:

Like I said, as lean as the team is, if they make any cuts, it'll be everybody. This is not 2005 or 2015. There's not much left to trim.

Stop being so obtus.. they can REPLACE certain key element for a better fit (for them)


I'll even double down.. New Heresy Theme Park Legacy?
After ~6yrs, you better come up with something else than a plan and paper ideas.
This is needed for yesterday! Prodo is waiting (money maker)

What u say about illegal server.. what about RMT seller/site??? and as you know they got all the tool required to identify and flag any RMT'er, they won't care about the free labor.. if they need free labor, as u said they'll go after illegal server but with a blackmail offer *smirk*

Illegal server are a remedy to bad corporate studio, imo.. the cure to this remedy is to make the official game a better game than an illegal server run by two russian dude in a basement with a handfull of passionate gamers to help them for free.
UO is a great sandbox with a tons of content that can offer the best open world gathering & PvP experiences.. in 2025 UO could have made 10 times the money a game like albion online is doing. (they making GOOD money)

All you need is a plan, cerebro, cojones y talento.. the timing is MORE than perfect.

I still do not see the vision.. wich is very alarming!!


Anyway, something is sure.. we are lucky for one thing.. sometimes company are bought just to be shut down.. here they 100% at least gonna give a F.. for some times.

I wish I had the same faith as Petra.. at the end I don't think they gonna pay respect due to a MMO grandfather.. if it's not worth their time, we better hope they receive an offer, cuz Lokea is wrong.. they have enough margin to clear more people.. Cancel NL and keep doing the maintenance mode with a front store selling everything RMT'er does and put it on a shelf.

They can say all they want: "we have no intention of going anywhere".. but at the end.. you better start fixing the holes in those walls..wich is why the vision is important here.. u dont have enough time to finish the renovation (like NL, CC, etc,etc).. cuz there is new owners.
Right, the old owner have visited once in the past decade and it was to dump a third MMO in the hospice.. but yeah.. 2 of those 3 IP are owned by EA and have the potential to make noise in the gaming world.
PS: the value of DAoC is very limited tho.. "pop culture".. kinda like albion.. they would have assets and studio to sale.. but their IP same problem as DAoC.. not original.

So all that remain at BS is UO, IP wise, that has a potential.
Like, look at Bioware.. u could be NAH they good!! They did so many good games like KOtOR or mass effect.. look what happen with mass effect.. yes the IP is golden, but the actual dev team.. not so much.

If it's easier for you to point fact when it does not affect you.. let's do that.. So I won't hurt your feelings, I just do not see the point of doing that on UO forum, you know.

Edit: when I talk about affiliates.. I clearly include EM's.. that heresy need to go, imo.. if it's not a RP server, u clear that.. at best, this is another bad bribe.. you could always open the door for player organised event, to give them a hand from time to time or even dev tools for those.. sandbox tools.

KroDuK said:

Just think about it one second and stop with the preconceived opinions..
What is the first thing u see while looking up for UO.. like on official socials media?

I did take your little challenge, and looked at the official social media, and I don't see a problem.  Well, one problem is that UO.com at the top of this page has a twitter link pointing to the old Ultima Online (@UOHerald) / X which hasn't posted in almost a decade (there is another official twitter, but it doesn't have much recent content). Twitter is hot garbage these days, so not too big of a loss - it's a lot of clickbait and AI-generated accounts talking to one another - there are better platforms. I did search for Ultima Online on twitter which brings up a lot of nostalgic posts, but again, those posts are old. There's also 3rd-party shards popping up.

I'm just not sure what your point is about the official social media accounts. The official UO Facebook and YouTube channels have a decent amount of content and overall the official UO social media platforms are utilized much better than they were 10-15 years ago, just not as many comments. The average UO player is probably middle-aged or close to it, and we don't always engage as much with product channels, but again, that's not UO's fault, that's just the demographics of the UO player base. I see this with other MMOs I play as well - you can tell the age of the player base by the kind of engagement you see. I see this in my work life - I work with products targeted at an older crowd, and they don't always engage as much as the young folks do.

I probably look at it different than you though - I have to deal with Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, and a few other social media platforms on a professional level and have had to for years (and it sucks), but personally, I keep that stuff off my phones and tablets, outside of YouTube. Too much toxicity.

KroDuK said:

What u say about illegal server.. what about RMT seller/site??? and as you know they got all the tool required to identify and flag any RMT'er, they won't care about the free labor.. if they need free labor, as u said they'll go after illegal server but with a blackmail offer *smirk*

.....

Anyway, something is sure.. we are lucky for one thing.. sometimes company are bought just to be shut down.. here they 100% at least gonna give a F.. for some times.

I wish I had the same faith as Petra.. at the end I don't think they gonna pay respect due to a MMO grandfather.. if it's not worth their time, we better hope they receive an offer, cuz Lokea is wrong.. they have enough margin to clear more people.. Cancel NL and keep doing the maintenance mode with a front store selling everything RMT'er does and put it on a shelf.

That is a good point about RMTers - somebody could easily decide to go after them as well, and we've seen this happen within the broader MMORPG community in recent months - some companies are banning players who are buying in-game gold and products with real-life money. MassivelyOP.com and I think EuroGamer (or maybe one of the Game Development news sites) have talked about this.

 I hope UO comes out of this okay and it might as long as it generates enough profit, but I think you are not familiar with how this works - I worked at a large company (easily 20 times the headcount of EA) for a long time, and we acquired a lot of companies and software products, and things don't work the way you think they do in acquisitions.

• Sometimes nothing changes - the product complimented our existing line and/or was a selling point for us - in this case, UO keeps doing what it's doing.
• Sometimes we spun off products to our partners - in this case, UO sold off to Broadsword
• Sometimes we folded those products into an existing product by adding features to our existing product (in other words, we bought a competing product to get its customer base) - Can't happen here
• Sometimes somebody decided those budgets would generate more profit elsewhere - if you spend $2 million to make $2 million in profit, somebody may decide you can spend $2 million elsewhere to make $5 million in profit. It's much easier to redirect that $2 million in expenses/development costs than to go beg for an additional $2 million.
• Sometimes we invested more resources into a product and then gave it X amount of time to generate more revenue. My fear in that scenario is that UO would become free-to-play (or more likely pay-to-win) on a level most UO players are not familiar with and we find ourselves paying separately for housing, paying for new content, paying for bank storage, paying for access to various locations, etc. (I would assume they would grandfather existing players in). It would also put a timer on UO's head, and that's not the kind of pressure the UO team needs.
• Sometimes we decided an acquired product needed to be upgraded or changed to meet our standards (we weren't going to send it out the door with our logo on it unless changes were made) - the only example I could think of is maybe make a sequel to UO, make it fully 3D or whatever. I would hate for this to happen.

This is not a typical acquisition though, and I fully admit that - this is a purchase meant to shore up and diversify the finances of the Saudis away from oil, but we are just a tiny drop in that purchase, and while I'd like to think that management inside of EA would stick up for us players and point out we are one of the longest-running MMOs, that management will most likely be changed within a year, and it comes down to how much profit UO generates.

We also benefit from the fact that RPGs/MMOs can make a lot of money (Red Dead Redemption, Elder Scrolls, Baldur's Gate 3, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, etc.) but not to be a downer, but UO doesn't have that kind of glamour right now, and the last Ultima product or two (the Paul Barnett one and then the cheesy online/Facebook strategy game) did not do well. They were just pale shadows of Ultima's IP.  And we face the fact that DragonAge is a thing, however it has its own baggage.

I'm hoping UO is left alone for the most part. 

I'm also hoping somebody realizes it would garner a lot of attention if Ultima VII (and its expansion) were re-mastered/re-made like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Ultima VII had an easy 150-200 hours of content. Same with Wing Commander (don't ask me to pick a favorite though). But EA infamously has a lot of world-famous IPs it has let die - just ask the SimCity fans.

I think that's enough speculation on this topic for now, it's getting too personal.