A popular, long-running, free-to-play multiplayer zombie games is being forced offline by new UK legislation. Urban Dead, which launched in July 2005, will shut down on March 14, 2025, due to the Online Safety Act's requirements for social and gaming websites where users interact.
Creator Kevan Davis announced the closure on the game's website: "No grand finale. No final catastrophe. No helicopter evac," he wrote. "Make your peace or your final stand in whichever part of Malton you called home."
The free multiplayer game pioneered a unique approach to zombie survival, letting players switch between survivor and zombie roles as they fought over safe houses in the fictional quarantined city of Malton.
The game runs entirely in web browsers with text and minimal graphics. Players manage limited action points to move, fight, and communicate — survivors through speech and radio broadcasts, zombies through crude groans and gestures."
The Online Safety Act of 2023 creates several challenges for online game publishers, which requires them to moderate user interactions, which requires significant resources. They are also required to enforce age restrictions consistently, using age assurance technologies rather than just stating age limits in terms of service. Non-compliance can result in fines up to £18 million or 10% of worldwide revenue, with potential criminal liability for senior managers.
"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," Davis wrote, ending the game's remarkable 19-year, 8-month run.
The game's wiki will become read-only the same day the servers go dark.
Previously:
• Browser-based zombie MMO
