A long-running zombie MMORPG you can play in your internet browser is shutting down next week, after almost 20 years of plank-smashing and supermarket looting. Urban Dead is closing down because a new UK law threatens hefty fines for online services (including games) that don’t follow age restriction rules and other guidelines. It looks like making the game compliant with that law would be too much work for the solo web developer who’s been keeping the apocalyptic servers going for this long.
“Sad to have to announce that Urban Dead will be closing down on Friday 14 March 2025, due to an upcoming change in UK website legislation,” said developer Kevan Davis in a post on the game’s website spotted by Gamesradar.
“The Online Safety Act comes into force later this month, applying to all social and gaming websites where users interact, and especially those without strong age restrictions. With the possibility of heavy corporate-sized fines even for solo web projects like this one, I’ve reluctantly concluded that it doesn’t look feasible for Urban Dead to be able to continue operating.”
The Online Safety Act was passed into law in 2023 and comes into effect this year. The UK government says the act will make social media and search companies “more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms.”
“The strongest protections in the Act have been designed for children,” an explainer says. “Platforms will be required to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content.”
But the law has been criticised as a censor’s charter by human rights groups such as Open Rights, and big companies like Apple have complained that it has repercussions for end-to-end encryption. This is a bit messy, since Apple is already in a spat with the UK government over a secret order they were handed by the government to hand over the keys to their encryption – but, look, none of this has anything to do with zombies. Urban Dead just seems to be collateral damage in a bigger legal brawl between the UK government and corporate interests.
“So a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days after its quarantine began, Urban Dead will be shut down. No grand finale. No final catastrophe. No helicopter evac. Make your peace or your final stand in whichever part of Malton you called home, and the game will be switched off at noon UTC on 14 March.”
Malton is the name of the big city you explore in the game. It’s basically loads of blocks full of gun shops, fire stations, hospitals, malls, pubs, and other potential sources of useful items to scavenge. You can board up the windows of any building to protect against the undead. It’s the only MMO I know that lets players play as zombies. I briefly wrote about waking up as a zombie and enjoying the game’s refresh battles back in 2017. I haven’t played for many many years, but my fond memories of the game include holding out in a boarded up mall with lots of other players (and a single “pet” zombie player who muffled and groaned in a whole language that you could actually translate if you took the time to examine the moans).
The developer doesn’t write off a re-boot down the road. “If Urban Dead is ever revivified or spun off in any way in the future,” says Davis on the Urban Dead news page, “it’ll be announced on this website.”