Do you remember zombie apocalypse MMO Urban Dead? It's shutting down after nearly 20 years

A long-running zombie MMORPG you tin play successful your net browser is shutting down adjacent week, aft astir 20 years of plank-smashing and supermarket looting. Urban Dead is closing down due to the fact that a caller UK instrumentality threatens hefty fines for online services (including games) that don't travel property regularisation rules and different guidelines. It looks similar making the crippled compliant with that instrumentality would beryllium excessively overmuch enactment for the solo web developer who's been keeping the apocalyptic servers going for this long.

"Sad to person to denote that Urban Dead volition beryllium closing down connected Friday 14 March 2025, owed to an upcoming alteration successful UK website legislation," said developer Kevan Davis successful a post connected the game's website spotted by Gamesradar.

"The Online Safety Act comes into unit aboriginal this month, applying to each societal and gaming websites wherever users interact, and particularly those without beardown property restrictions. With the anticipation of dense corporate-sized fines adjacent for solo web projects similar this one, I've reluctantly concluded that it doesn't look feasible for Urban Dead to beryllium capable to proceed operating."

The Online Safety Act was passed into instrumentality successful 2023 and comes into effect this year. The UK authorities says the enactment volition marque societal media and hunt companies "more liable for their users’ information connected their platforms."

"The strongest protections successful the Act person been designed for children," an explainer says. "Platforms volition beryllium required to forestall children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content."

But the instrumentality has been criticised arsenic a censor's charter by quality rights groups such arsenic Open Rights, and large companies similar Apple person complained that it has repercussions for end-to-end encryption. This is simply a spot messy, since Apple is already successful a spat with the UK authorities implicit a concealed order they were handed by the authorities to manus implicit the keys to their encryption - but, look, nary of this has thing to bash with zombies. Urban Dead conscionable seems to beryllium collateral harm successful a bigger ineligible brawl betwixt the UK authorities and firm interests.

"So a afloat 19 years, 8 months and 11 days aft its quarantine began, Urban Dead volition beryllium unopen down. No expansive finale. No last catastrophe. No chopper evac. Make your bid oregon your last basal successful whichever portion of Malton you called home, and the crippled volition beryllium switched disconnected astatine noon UTC connected 14 March."

Malton is the sanction of the large metropolis you research successful the game. It's fundamentally loads of blocks afloat of weapon shops, occurrence stations, hospitals, malls, pubs, and different imaginable sources of utile items to scavenge. You tin committee up the windows of immoderate gathering to support against the undead. It's the lone MMO I cognize that lets players play arsenic zombies. I concisely wrote astir waking up arsenic a zombie and enjoying the game's refresh battles backmost successful 2017. I haven't played for galore many years, but my fond memories of the crippled see holding retired successful a boarded up promenade with tons of different players (and a azygous "pet" zombie subordinate who muffled and groaned successful a full connection that you could really translate if you took the clip to analyse the moans).

The developer doesn't constitute disconnected a re-boot down the road. "If Urban Dead is ever revivified oregon spun disconnected successful immoderate mode successful the future," says Davis connected the Urban Dead quality page, "it'll beryllium announced connected this website."