So, I recently went back and bought all of the Ultima series of games on GOG.com. Not just to own Windows 7 compatible copies, but also to further support a franchise that's been with me since childhood and that I still enjoy as an adult in Ultima Online. I'll always be a fan of the franchise, willing to pony up cash for a new Ultima game or UO expansion, or in-game item.
But the reason for this involves more than just the franchise's longevity. The Ultima franchise's publisher, EA, has a LOT to do with my customer loyalty. Meanwhile, like many City of Heroes fans, I would NOT buy another City of Heroes franchise title from NCSoft. And this isn't just out of spite over COH's closure. It's about reward for investment.
Allow me to explain.
A lot of people speak of Ultima and Ultima Online in the past tense; but because of EA's friendlier (or at least less adversarial) stance toward fans, I know that UO will still be available to play 15 years from now and beyond, even if EA abandons the official shards. I first played Ultima III as a 12 year-old boy; and it's the knowledge that I'll always have access to newly created content within the Ultima universe--whether official or community-created--that's one of the most dorkily happy things for me as an adult.
I'm a fan for life because my investment as a fan is secure. Of course, much of the content of the Ultima universe helps. It helps that the
virtues, heroic quests, and so forth, make for games and stories you'd want to impress upon your kids and their kids.
It hasn't always been like this. When EA shut down Origin Systems (Richard "Lord British" Garriott's studio and Ultima franchise creators), and also
Earth and Beyond in 2004, it was the last in a long string of events that caused me and many others to boycott them; and we harassed EA for years through various channels, until a new CEO stepped up and admitted to many of his company's mistakes--such as acquiring competing studios in order shut them down and bank their brands, and leaving fans out in the cold as so much collateral damage in their race to the top. These strategies hurt EA in the long run. If they hadn't, then we never would have heard any CEO promising a shift in direction.
But EA didn't lose face in this admittance. Far from it. Because their promise to their fans proved true.
Ironically, it was EA's soft stance toward E&B and UO emulation communities that convinced fans to end their boycotts; along with EA's willingness to work with newly acquired Mythic studios (actually
work with them) to breath new life into UO and keep it running. Which is what Mythic has been allowed to do ever since, as well as making a brand new Ultima game.
Ultima Online is one of those "that game's still around?" games now, but generations of gamers have grown up playing it and many still do. By now, the number of Ultima fans who play emulated servers may equal or outnumber those on the official shards. But while EA is far from perfect, they can have my money, and a great deal of respect, for the reasons above.
NCSoft could learn a thing or two. MMOs are no longer new and novel, and we've entered that era that answers the intent of the 90-day cancellation disclaimer on all MMO boxes since the very first one. Innocence is lost. Going forward, publishers are going to have to compromise with their fans, if they don't want to lose them.
EA is a perfect model in this regard.
For executives and developers at NCSoft, "job security" is one of your biggest concerns. But for your fans, it's "game universe security". Especially for those of us who have lived in, invested in, and lost a game universe or two. In a "risk versus reward" game design sense, your new titles will continue to become increasingly overshadowed by the reputation you're building: a reputation for leaving your fans out in the cold in your race to the top.
