As reported by PC Gamer/Inside Gamer that Ultima is on the way back to it’s creator. As a big fan of Ultima back in my Apple 2 days I’m excited about this. There was rumors floating around but nothing this public by any means. Going back to it’s “dad” I think is fantastic! Stay tuned and read below for more information.
Ultima is one of PC gaming’s most important cultural touchstones, with Richard ‘Lord British’ Garriot’s roleplaying series blazing trails across numerous genres. The mainline CRPGs received critical acclaim for their rich, dynamic worlds, while spinoffs like Ultima Underworld and Ultima Online were key texts in the evolution of immersive sims and MMOs. Ultima’s influence still echoes through to today, with Ultima 7 being a major inspiration for Larian Studios when developing Divinity: Original Sin and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Yet it’s been a long time since Ultima itself was a going concern. The keys to the series have been in the pocket of Electronic Arts since 1992, when Garriott sold developer Origin Systems to the publisher. While some good Ultima games were developed afterwards—most notably Ultima Online—the series has largely been left dormant by EA, barring a couple of ill-fated experiments like 2010’s Lord of Ultima and 2013’s Ultima Forever. But it’s possible that may soon change, as control of the series could return to Garriott in the near future.
This was reportedly explained by Garriott himself to Inside Games‘ Brian Gaar. Recently, The Phrasemaker reported that EA filed new trademarks related to the Ultima series. This prompted Gaar to call Garriott to find out what, if anything, Garriott knew about this. According to Gaar, Garriott stated that he has repeatedly attempted to revive Ultima while the series has been under EA’s purview. “Every decade or so, I tried to work with EA on a revival of Ultima. They always seemed interested enough to start talking, then abandoned talks just as quickly.”
The rest of the article can be seen at https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-creator-of-ultima-is-reportedly-reclaiming-the-series-rights-back-from-ea-and-it-could-happen-as-soon-as-next-year/
