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How much did Ultima Online cost to buy and to play when it was launched in September 24 of 1997?

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While they are allowed, "trivia" questions like this don't tend to be considered very useful, which is why you are receiving downvotes. – bwarner May 11 '12 at 17:17
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@bwarner if "trivia" questions are allowed, why do people get down votes for them? If "trivia" questions are not considered very useful they shouldn't be allowed. If my question isn't useful, why did the guy who answered got 5 up votes? Isn't this question useful for those who are interested in Game history, or for those who are researching MMO price evolution (me)? I don't think Game history is less important than questions like "how do I get the Blue Sword in XXX game". This question shouldn't be closed. – Roberto May 11 '12 at 20:52
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Usefulness is an opinion and varies from one community member to another. Not every question that is deemed unuseful by some needs to be banned outright. In this case, you got 4 upvotes, and 4 downvotes, so the community was split. And you get a net reputation gain as a result, since upvotes are worth more. I'm not sure what the reasoning was behind closing it, maybe @Raven can explain. – bwarner May 11 '12 at 21:11

closed as too localized by OrigamiRobot, Zero Stack, Raven Dreamer♦ May 11 '12 at 17:23

This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question more broadly applicable, see the FAQ.

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

The original retail price was $64.95, and the monthly subscription was $9.95, as noted in this New York Times article.

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+1 This answers both parts of the question with a relevant/reliable citation – A. Still May 11 '12 at 17:23
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As pointed out by mobygames, the original monthly fee was 10$ when it was released:

Further charges included Origin’s failure to explain on the game box that Ultima Online required a monthly subscription fee of $10 and a credit card, and that the minimum hardware requirements written on the box were inaccurate and too low. The complaint sought money and punitive damages for those offences.

Source

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up vote 0 down vote

Take a look at these articles:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/ultima-online-fee-hike-coming-6028808

http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/04/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/

They both point out that the original price was 10$ per month.

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