Cancelled Projects
From UOGuide
In UO's history there have been many development cancellations.
Sequels
EA has attempted to create two sequels to UO, but canceled just months away from beta testing.
Ultima Worlds Online: Origin
Better known as Ultima Online 2, UO2 was to be set in Sosaria but in an alternate timeline where a cataclysm has collided the past, present and future of Sosaria into a single world, thus bringing Industrial Revolution and steampunk elements to the medieval fantasy world. Players would be able to choose from three playable races:
- Juka - warriors from the Logos, the land of technology governed by Blackthorn
- Meer - magically adept beings from ancient Sosaria
- Humans - from Britannia
In March 2001, Electronic Arts (parent company of Origin) announced that development on Ultima Worlds Online: Origin would cease in order to provide additional support for Ultima Online. Shortly after, EA announced it had laid off 200 employees including some at Origin Systems. EA feared that UO2 would compete for subscribers with UO, which was still profitable and not showing signs of slowing down.
Several ideas and concepts with back ported to UO, mostly seen during the Lord Blackthorn's Revenge expansion.
Ultima X: Odyssey
Although scheduled to be released sometime in 2004, EA cancelled the project on June 30, 2004, after the closure of Origin and the layoffs of several employees. Despite being a multiplayer game, UXO was being marketed as a continuation of the Ultima series that was last visited with Ultima IX rather than as a sequel or replacement to the still commercially successful Ultima Online.
Systems
Necromancy
Although Necromancy is now a full fledged skill in UO, it was meant to appear years before Age of Shadows. The skill was so close to completion that necromancy reagents were being distributed at events and spawning as loot on monsters. Most of those reagents are now considered rare.
