While the first version of VU was far from perfect, as a couple subsequent patches to the software illustrate, its release signified a number of successes concerning the application of game and simulation design as well as the partnering of game developers with academic simulation veterans. The key highlights of this success include:

Strong team produced a strong simulation
The biggest asset to Virtual U's success was that the key people working on the project had a strong vision for what the model would accomplish and success hinged on game development processes and programming skills. A strong development team and a seasoned designer provided mutual support, and the project was also properly funded which facilitated the hiring of experienced developers. The result of this strong development team was a strong product. Third-party reviews corroborated this and fellow game developers recognized the product as one of the ten best independently produced and developed game titles of 2000 at the Independent Games Festival in San Jose, California. VU had a polished interface, excellent user documentation, and professional packaging that, while not directly contributing to the software itself, was a factor in its overall impact and significance.

Software sported several novel ideas
Within the software itself a number of ideas were well executed. The budgeting system for VU is one of the most advanced seen in such a game. The economic underpinnings of VU are some of the development and design teams' best work. Furthermore the program's ability to simulate a wide variety of institutions -- from small rural to large urban campuses -- is also, while not perfect, a great initial success. The program is also successful at simulating the nature of large-scale organization management itself. Many of the decisions don't produce explicit reactions but instead initiate trends and behaviors that evolve toward a desired result by the manager. While not as immediately gratifying for players, this is a much more realistic portrayal of large-organization management.

Distributed development team worked
Another successful point for VU was its distributed development team. While the team had its delays and organizational problems it still managed to work well together with key elements of the project team located in New York, Jackson Hole, Portland, Maine, Hong Kong and Lawrence, Kansas. Periodic face-to-face meetings helped, as did diligent use of reports and emails. It's important to remember that many game/simulation projects outside the entertainment industry will need to work in this same manner. VU shows that these projects can be as successful, if a bit longer to complete, as their entertainment counterparts.

At the grassroots level the great thing that happened with VU was that an initial community has begun to form around the product. This includes a group of higher-education professors who are using the product with their classes and developing assignments, syllabi, and more around the project. While the project has targeted these users, the first adopters have mostly come from people who had read or heard about the project on their own in various articles or from ads in educational trade publications, saw a demo at a conference, or came across it via the Internet.

Availability of source code
At first the idea of publishing the source code to VU was not even considered. When the idea came open for discussion, that fact hindered the initial push to publish the source code because the developers worried about both the intellectual property issue and how they might feel compelled to provide support for the source code. The developers also believed they hadn't commented or structured the source code for public source use. Eventually these issues and fears were put to rest and the source code was published in the summer of 2001. To date, more than 200 people have downloaded the source code and helped the project fulfill a sub-goal of providing as much documentation of its model as possible.