As Ultima Online approaches its 28th birthday, former creative lead reveals what it takes for an MMO to last for decades, and why they sometimes fail: "Content does not last forever"

MMO pioneer Raph Koster says "the number one predictor of people staying in an MMO is the friends they make"

March 6, 2025 · 1 min · 70 words · Mr. Jonathan Smith

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The friends we made along the way.

Content does not last forever, right?

Ultima Online

And it’s the same thing for a great MMO.

So that means you have to do an awful lot of design work around enabling and supporting that."

I’m definitely getting modern spacey Ultima Online vibes from it, which sounds great.

A WoW Classic player chased by a dinosaur in a green forest

A player in space, firing a weapon at alien creatures in a pre-alpha screenshot of Stars Reach.

Three girls face the camera with big smiles in Animal Crossing New Horizons

Stars Reach

Three players stood on an asteroid in Stars Reach.

Legacy: Steel & Sorcery

WOTLK

World of Warcraft

A purple scholar reads a text in a World of Warcraft library

Team Liquid clears Chrome King Gallywix

World of Warcraft Classic Fall of the Lich King

Ghost of Tsushima sequel Ghost of Yotei reveal trailer screenshot

A screenshot shows three Elden Ring Nightreign characters wearing Dark Souls armor sets

Hollow Knight

Lewis Pullman as "Bob" in Thunderbolts*

Hawkeye

GTA 6 trailer screenshots

Articulate box, cards, board, and tokens on a wooden table

The cast of Thunderbolts standing in an elevator during the trailer for the upcoming Marvel Phase 5 movie.

Logan Kim as Hershel and Lauren Cohan as Maggie in The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2