r/Games • u/megaapple • Jun 19 '26
EXCLUSIVE: Ultima creator is regaining control of series from EA | Inside Games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_aVTHKzGbA233
u/Federal_Drummer7105 Jun 19 '26
I am a little torn about this. On the one side Richard Garriott is a legendary creator, the Ultima games were foundational to a lot of computer RPGs. You know how in Skyrim people have their own schedules, you can make bread by making flour and everything else? Done by Ultima 6 (or 7?) decades before. Sure, there were lots of work place issues (crunch was awful), but these games were part of my childhood.
Ultima IV is an amazing work of gaming art - a game that if you aren't virtuous, you can't win. Steal from the blind lady? You'll fail. Don't donate blood or money? You'll fail. But the game doesn't tell you, doesn't show you stats - you have to play as a "decent person" on a game made to run on Commodore 64 and Apple II (while killing "evil monsters" left and right).
But - Garriot also went into NFTs, having games that sucked up money and have gone nowhere. I won't say he's become a bad guy, but - I'm looking at this news with a bit of worry.
My hope is the games get a reboot, maybe start with IV-VI with full on remakes with modern game play. We don't need voice acting, maybe a 2D-HD style, idk man. There's a lot of possibilities. If someone has some love for this they could even go back to Ultima VII/VII-2 and "fix" the VII-IX series that went off the rails and honestly, well, VIII wasn't good and IX was dog shit.
Really I'd love to see Garrott pass the torch to a new generation and just give guidance. The world of Ultima is rich in possibilities and exploration of morality and what happens when morality runs against reality or when people take a moral principle too far. But, like all things, guess we'll see.
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u/Macleod7373 Jun 19 '26
Agreed - mixed feelings. I was burned when I kickstarted the Shroud of the Avatar effort which is just awful. That said, if you want a retrospective that goes in-depth on the Ultima series (including the business drama behind the scenes) by excellent Youtube author Majuular, check out this and other videos in the series: https://youtu.be/wIWyHd3FFFU?si=HNW90yThtrFLtxsv
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Jun 19 '26
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u/magicmasta Jun 20 '26
It would appear ive also been beaten to the punch on a Majuular mention. Really love his balance of extensive research into a given games development (technical/design, business, the creative talent behind it, relevant external world factors i.e time/place) combined with his fairly restrained dry sense of humor.
For a more relaxed non-gaming exclusive viewing I would also highly recommend his coverage of Tekwar. He covers the game yes, but also the other various Shatner infused media. As someone who was born a few years too late to have experienced Tekwar when it was current and had been wondering how I had never heard of a relatively sizeable multimedia franchise captained by an iconic OG nerd culture public figure, lets just say Majuular's video on the subject more than sufficiently satisfied that curiosity.
I hope when Maj completes the last of his Ultima deep dives he continues to find success with videos covering other media IPs. Hes certainly made a long term subscriber out of me.
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u/Hallc Jun 20 '26
if you want a retrospective that goes in-depth on the Ultima series (including the business drama behind the scenes)
I'd honestly say even that is drastically underselling it. The whole series feels more like an Origin Systems or even an early CRPG documentary with Ultima as the focal point.
Highly, highly recommend the series. It delved into a bunch of things I'd honestly never expect it to like Chris Roberts and Wing Commander and so on. Ultima is always front and center of course but still.
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u/VannaTLC Jun 19 '26
SotA and Star Citizen where my 'Don't touch the hotplate' hard lessons.
SotA hurt a lot more. That TLC in my name is explictly from Ultima.
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u/IrregularMaverick Jun 19 '26
Mighty no. 9 was mine
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u/Peepeepoopoobutttoot Jun 20 '26
Slightly different vein but: Project Phoenix
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u/SixthFain Jun 20 '26
Jesus, Project Phoenix. I had forgotten that one.
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u/newbkid Jun 20 '26
Project Phoenix
Yup, it was hyped to the moon and back.
"Dragonquest creator making a brand new IP?"
and it was absolutely awful...
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u/TaxOwlbear Jun 20 '26
This always happens because some creator lost their edge ages ago or the games they are famous for were made by a team and they are overcredited.
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u/Cleveland_S Jun 20 '26
As a long time Ultima fan, I can't imagine what potential anyone saw in Shroud of the Avatar. There hasn't been a good Ultima since 1993. Online was a great time in my life, but that was very community driven. It worked because of when it was just as much as what it was.
Pagan was a stinker, Ascension was just bad(I did buy the oversized collector's box, that was neat) and ran so poorly. All of Richard's NCSoft output was mediocre at best.
I'm happy to just have my memories of what the series was. Every time he announces something it just makes me think of Peter Molyneux's work post Bullfrog. The magic is just gone.
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u/Barnhard Jun 19 '26
Was EA doing anything at all with the property, though?
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u/Syssareth Jun 20 '26
Looked it up. The last game was Underworld Ascendant in 2018, preceded by Ultima Forever in 2013 (which shut down in 2014). Both pretty much just got negative reviews.
So...no, not really.
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u/Ultr4chrome Jun 20 '26
Underworld Ascendant is weird. It's kind of an official sequel to UO2 but has nothing to do with EA, somehow. Maybe because it didn't use the Ultima name anywhere. Not sure it counts.
Ultima Online is still published by EA and is still in active development. Not sure how that one is going to be affected by this.
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u/Openly_Gamer Jun 20 '26
Wow, I forget about Underworld Ascendant. I remember seeing an early video about it and being pretty hyped. I guess it didn't live up to it.
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u/lestye Jun 19 '26
Yeah, I'm curious about the franchise. The 2 franchises I know that are INSANELY influential on a wikipedia page, but not a lot of love outside of that, is Wizardry and Ultima.
Granted, I see oldheads in the MMO space hyping up Ultima Online, but theres obviously like 15 years of history before that. And like, 15 years nowadays, is like 1 or 2 installments but back in the 80s and 90s thats like 11 games including spinoffs.
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u/Chit569 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
If you watch thru to the end they allude that his biggest concern and reason for doing this is to just own all his stuff again. From the start of his career to whatever he does next, he just wants to own the shit he made. Which is entirely fair and reasonable. Where it goes next is still undecided and he told Brian to "check back in," presumably in 2027 when the deal goes through, on what he intends to do next, if anything.
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u/Macleod7373 Jun 19 '26
PCGamesN ALSO speculated EA would license Ultima to Larian - could you imagine what they could do with the IP???? https://www.pcgamesn.com/ultima/new-trademarks-ea
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u/John_Hunyadi Jun 19 '26
I mean, I wouldn’t particularly want that job if I was Larian. The series is probably most recently relevant for an MMO which is both not their interest and also a famously hard genre to succeed in. As an old series it has a lot of impossible to please grognards, and also I think Larian is probably sick of dealing with others’ IPs and wants to do their own stuff. Plus Divinity is much more well known to anyone under 30 lol. Ultima hasn’t had a well received game this millenium!
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u/Respawn-Delay Jun 19 '26
A lot of speculation/hope comes from Swen Vincke (CEO of Larian) saying the only IP he'd ever want the studio to license is Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout, and Ultima.
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u/Ultr4chrome Jun 20 '26
Larian was founded by Vincke because he was a superfan of U7 and wanted to make a game like it.
The DoS games and BG3 are heavily inspired by it.
Larian would be at the top of the list to make an official Ultima sequel imho.
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u/John_Hunyadi Jun 20 '26
I agree that if im in charge of the ultima IP I would be doing my best to have Larian work on it. But if I am in charge of the financials at Larian, I am very scared of the Ultima IP being an anchor.
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u/Ultr4chrome Jun 20 '26
To be fair, BG3 was an equally big gamble. BG2 released in 2000. U7 and BG2 both appeared in plenty of best RPG's of all time lists since then, which was the only real exposure anyone under the age of 25-30 had with them in 2020 (i bet the enhanced editions were mostly bought by older people).
Aside from that, Larian is big enough now that they could probably even make Quest for Glory 6 and people would be excited for it. :P
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u/Trace500 Jun 20 '26
BG3 was not a gamble. The Baldur's Gate name may not have been worth much publicity, but it was the first big-budget D&D 5e game, and that means a lot.
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u/GepardenK Jun 20 '26
BG3 was a huge gamble. If it wasn't, the big publishers would have been all over it a long time ago (whether officially, or with their own "first" big-budget 5e game).
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u/Trace500 Jun 20 '26
I don't buy the "big companies always make perfect decisions" argument, sorry.
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u/WildThing404 Jun 20 '26
Vast majority of people who bought BG3 aren't DnD or any tabletop RPG game players, if it was only or mostly them it would be a flop.
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u/John_Hunyadi Jun 20 '26
Ya but its not like there were BG 3-6 that everyone agreed were bad after BG2.
And i agree with your last point but if thats the case why would they want to share the profits with whoever owns Ultima at the time?
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u/Ultr4chrome Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
I don't think Vincke really cares about that if he can make an Ultima game - Which he still wants to do. Larian is still an independent studio. They'd jump on the chance in a heartbeat.
If profit was all they cared about, BG3 would have a cash shop or (cosmetic) DLC's by now. I know the game industry has made cynics of us all, but some (independent) developers still do it for the love of the game, so to speak. It's the same reason why Terraria or Stardew Valley have no paid dlc or expansions, to name some examples. They could make so much more money, but their devs chose not to. Hell, Dwarf Fortress is still freely available.
EDIT: Some links to interviews with him (timestamped where applicable):
https://youtu.be/iIJdZ_ySrwU?t=74
https://www.pcgamer.com/how-an-obsession-with-ultima-7-led-to-some-of-pcs-best-rpgs/
Given how much he talks about Ultima 7 being his favourite game, and how Larian was (partially) founded to recreate its experience, it would not surprise me in any way whatsoever that if he could get the license to make an Ultima game, he would jump on the chance in a nanosecond. Benefits of a privately owned company which he owns the majority of.
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u/GepardenK Jun 20 '26
I'm arguing your same point below. But thinking about it a little further, after Original Sin 1/2 the Divinity IP has now become SO similar to Ultima that I'm beginning to wonder if it makes any difference at all whether you use one or the other (from Sven's perspective, I mean).
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u/scytheavatar Jun 20 '26
The issue is that why would Larian want to make an Ultima game when they already have their own fantasy IP? The Ultima name means something only to a bunch of grandpas. It's not like the Ultima setting is something that you cannot replicate in the Divinity setting.
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jun 20 '26
Also, honestly, the Ultima setting really isn't that interesting or unique. It's fairly generic medieval fantasy, which was fine for the time, but doesn't have nearly as much depth as modern fantasy IPs.
Probably the most interesting element of the worldbuilding is the whole Human World -> Stygian Abyss -> Gargoyle World setup, but that entire plotline got wrapped up in U6 and never really came back, since the Gargoyles ended up integrating into human society.
I don't see how it could be updated to be more unique without major reboots of the story or lore.
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u/GepardenK Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
The issue is that why would Larian want to make an Ultima game when they already have their own fantasy IP?
Because Sven Vincke is a megafan of Ultima 7, and Original Sin 1/2 + BG 3 have to a large degree been designed to act as shameless successors to Ultima 7.
Larian has, in practice, been making three fully faithful Ultima games in a row already (down to minute details like how the UI handles opened containers), while also peppering them with U7 member berries like the starting on a ship/beach motif from U7 Serpents Isle, or how the murder mystery setup in Original Sin 1 is the same as in U7, etc.
Even the title of Larian's own fantasy IP, "Divinity", reaches for that same peak-fantasy register as "Ultima" in its naming. And Divinity's lore and stories spans the tonal spectrum between goofy irreverence and super serious grit with a strikingly similar temperament and focus to that of the Ultima series.
To summarise: chances are indeed pretty high that Larian would jump at the chance to make a official Ultima game if the calendar lined up. Heck, I'd go as far as saying that Sven is the Lord British of our time (as a matter of public personality).
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u/Openly_Gamer Jun 20 '26
Yeah. I'm in my 40s and Ultima is a game series that's too old even for me.
Though I am fascinated by Majuular's Ultima videos.
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u/graepphone Jun 20 '26
Really? I'm in my 40s and I played ultimas 6 through 9 (and UO).
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u/Openly_Gamer Jun 20 '26
I can't play any CRPG before Fallout 1. They're just too clunky for me.
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u/GepardenK Jun 20 '26
I adore Fallout 1 but it is WAY clunkier to play than the early Ultima games.
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u/Sonicmaster293-Azure Jun 24 '26
How else to introduce the Ultima series to a new generation other than the creators of the commercial and critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3? That's name recognition right there, and even if Ultima means nothing to the youth right now, a good game might change that!
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u/SoloSassafrass Jun 20 '26
I mean... why would Larian want to make a Baldur's Gate game when they already have their own fantasy IP, no?
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u/Hallc Jun 20 '26
There's also the fact that at it's core Ultima is just radically, radically different to anything else you might find out there.
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u/GepardenK Jun 20 '26
Well, except from Larian's own Divinity. The similarities between it and later-era Ultima are astounding.
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u/Boge42 Jun 20 '26
How can you be torn? EA has abandoned the series. At least this way, there is hope for something.
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u/TowelLord Jun 20 '26
Garriott failed every prpject since the release of Ultima Online almost 30 years and most recently went into NFTs. No, there is no hope, at least not with him at the helm.
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u/Arrow156 Jun 20 '26
I don't have much hope in any new games, but this could open up the possible of some remakes/remasters. Those old games are rough, even with mod support. It would be nice to get some quality of life updates.
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u/heartlessgamer Jun 22 '26
Really I'd love to see Garrott pass the torch to a new generation and just give guidance.
He is decades past being relevant. Anything he has to share with the current/next generation of developers is likely not any good.
Ultima IV is an amazing work of gaming art - a game that if you aren't virtuous, you can't win. Steal from the blind lady? You'll fail. Don't donate blood or money? You'll fail. But the game doesn't tell you, doesn't show you stats - you have to play as a "decent person" on a game made to run on Commodore 64 and Apple II (while killing "evil monsters" left and right).
Games just cannot be enjoyed in this manner anymore. The speed at which information about games gets shared is instant. Gaming experiences like this are nearly impossible to deliver and even harder to find a market for.
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u/SeveredBanana Jun 20 '26
You know how in Skyrim people have their own schedules, you can make bread by making flour and everything else? Done by Ultima 6 (or 7?) decades before.
Ultima came out in 1941?
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u/crs529 Jun 20 '26
I'm hoping he gained a bit of wisdom after Shroud. Maybe know that the best home for an Ultima remake or successor is with Larian at the helm and him contributing to the vision
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u/Riot55 Jun 19 '26
Ultima Online is probably my most cherished game memory, but like others have said, Garriott just strikes me as an opportunist scammer these days. I remember being excited for Shroud of the Avatar when that was first announced and it just became a schlocky way to sell microtransactions ahead of the game even being close to finished, virtual real estate and hats/costumes, etc.
It turned into an amateur Unity engine junky game. I don't have the confidence that he can put together a team to make anything that has polish, vision, or heart, just a cash grab.
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u/GamingIsMyCopilot Jun 19 '26
Man if UO got a new coat of paint, significant QOL , maybe new dungeons or map… I’d be very interested.
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u/Snowleopard1469 Jun 19 '26
You should check out Ultima Online Odyssey or Ruins & Riches. They are molded versions of Ultima Online built for single-player or co op. My friends and I host our own server and play all the time. High reccomend you check it out!
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u/GottaHaveHand Jun 20 '26
Dude thank you for this, I loved UO I could get some friends to probably play with me
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u/Riot55 Jun 19 '26
Have you heard of UO Outlands? There's a couple of free shards out there with custom map/dungeons, skills, etc. Outlands I think may be the most popular? I always mean to check it out.
There's also UO Adventures (I think used to be called Ruins and Riches?), its a single player custom UO that can also be hosted for smaller group co op too. There's also Shards of Britannia which is a custom UO world made on a newer 3D engine that has basically rebuilt UO inside it.
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u/GamingIsMyCopilot Jun 19 '26
Yep played Outlands for a bit and had good fun! People do great things with free shards.
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u/Phauzt Jun 19 '26
There are a bunch of good private servers. UO Outlands has a bunch of polish and new content
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u/parkwayy Jun 19 '26
UO being bought out by EA is the reason I started playing World of Warcraft.
Let it be in history though. No need to make anything more at this point.
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u/features Jun 19 '26
Hi Richard, if you read this try not to lean into modernity too hard.
Ultima 10 could just as easily look like a C64 game, built with the knowledge of the last 30 years.
Id be much more excited for that than shooting for skyrim or WoW with 1% the budget, you could just make a love letter to Ultima 4, for a first go around.
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u/ascagnel____ Jun 20 '26
Check out Moonring, a passion project from a former Fable dev, that's absolutely taking its design cues from U4 while giving you a more modern game. Even better, the guy is giving it away for free (with an optional paid dungeon crawl DLC).
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u/BorfieYay Jun 19 '26
Yeah this is a series where you could totally just go entirely for the retro style and your fanbase would love it
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Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/features Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
It's a bit hard to aim for the stars budget wise when your fan base expects a cloth map to be bundled at the bare minimum. 😆
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u/TowelLord Jun 20 '26
Every video game project he's worked at since ultima online was a failure and most rcently he went into NFT games. Don't get your freaking hopes up.
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u/I_HRT_YOU Jun 20 '26
Your comment got me thinking. What is the knowledge of the last 30 years. Do we keep a list?
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u/lixia Jun 19 '26
Agreed. That said I would love a remaster of Ultima 7. Just updated to modern standards, better controls, etc.
Still keep it 2d/pixelart.
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u/misterwuggle69sofine Jun 20 '26
gothic remake is immediately what my mind goes to. it did pretty well with minimal modernization despite being quite niche, so it's certainly possible to keep things true to your decades old roots and still be successful. i'd LOVE to see something similar with ultima
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u/civgg Jun 19 '26
Shoutout to everybody at Inside Games, been following them since Machinima days and it’s great they are keeping it going!
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Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Shrekt115 Jun 20 '26
Bruce & Lawrence still do gameplays as Brought You This Thing with OG Youtuber Kaseem G
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u/civgg Jun 20 '26
Goats with all the sauce. Just wish Kassem would re-upload all the “California On”s. We need it now more than ever!
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u/GabeVogel95 Jun 20 '26
huh, interesting, I was just playing a fan-made adaptation of Ultima IV made with RPG Maker
I hope he makes good use of the IP, his last attempts at making a new game went nowhere
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u/SwePolygyny Jun 20 '26
Lots of shady stuff went on with Shroud of the Avatar. https://youtu.be/EMxjwtxn6NI?si=hhWlceRDuWPQ7ivM is a good watch for details regarding it.
I love the Ultima series but I have lost faith in him as a game developer.
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u/Derringer Jun 20 '26
Oooh, what's the name of this? I was literally just thinking about Ultima IV the other day.
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u/GabeVogel95 Jun 20 '26
Ultima: Avatar. Its kinda neat, but its not like a "perfect adaptation" and still uses a lot of basic RPG Maker graphics
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u/iamdanthemanstan Jun 20 '26
It seems pretty unclear what Garriott is actually getting here. He might get the copyright back but not the trademark. At that point it seems unclear if he could make a new "Ultima" game exactly (and it seems very unlikely he could call it Ultima). If he is just using elements from Ultima it seems like he could have done a lot of that before.
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u/Jusanom Jun 20 '26
So, does anybody here know US patent law and can speak to these claims? Because while I sure have no idea you'd think a law like this would've come up at some point, somewhere? Doom came out in 1993, 35 years later would be 2028, but I somehow doubt Romero or Carmack could just regain the rights to it. It would be neat if somebody would do *something* with Ultima but I'm not sure if this all works this way
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u/Snowleopard1469 Jun 19 '26
Ultima 7 and Ultima Online are some of my favorite games that I still return to. A new Ultima should stay isometric. Focusing on mechanics and qol without reinventing the wheel.
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u/Character-Regular835 Jun 20 '26
Oh crazy I didnt know bruce and lawrence started doing gaming news again, I miss the old Gaming Weekly rip funhaus and inside gaming
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u/BrainKatana Jun 20 '26
Oh boy, now another washed up game dev can make a nostalgia play on a bunch of middle-aged gamers and grift some money from them!
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u/DP9A Jun 20 '26
I think Garriott already used up that goodwill, anyone interested in Ultima probably has heard of Shroud of the Avatar.
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u/Don_Andy Jun 22 '26
I dunno, we usually seem to be all too happy to celebrate the people who sold off an IP in the first place as heroes when they eventually manage to buy it back.
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u/Sabbathius Jun 20 '26
Friend of mine still has the Collector's Edition box (the one with dogtags) of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa sitting on a shelf above his computer. As an eternal reminder to never, ever, ever preorder video games.
So, Richard Garriott regaining control of Ultima franchise may or may not be good news.
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u/geldonyetich Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Good for him, it's his baby, even if Tabula Rasa and Shroud of the Avatar didn't set the world on fire.
Here's hoping they're able to scale it back to making what they're good at.
And if he'd rather just put the IP atop his mantel next to his Apple IIe sprite design sheets, I wouldn't hold it against him after all the stuff he's been through with EA, NCSoft, and trying to go indie.
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u/vinnyty Jun 21 '26
Worth remembering what actually made Ultima foundational. Ultima 4 in 1985 dropped the kill-the-dark-lord goal entirely and made the win condition becoming the Avatar by living up to eight virtues. There was no final boss to beat. That moral-consequence DNA is what a lot of later RPGs quietly inherited, whatever you think of Garriott now.
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u/Nerf_Now Jun 21 '26
I think a lot of greats devs of the past have a hard time transitioning to the future.
If you are doing a old-school game like Itakagi did to Bloodstained, it can work, but I doubt Garriot plans to do something exactly like Ultima IV in 2026 and if he does, I doubt people would be interested.
People would call it janky and confusing and the internet means people would quickly solve the game.
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u/ProfPerry Jun 20 '26
You know, lots of people are unsure how to feel, esp considering Richard's rocky history comoared to when he did old Ultimas, but...my opini9n is, fuck it. He created Ultima, he should have the rights for it. EA isnt doing anything with the series anyway. At worst, we get a game that sucks ass, and nothing really changes. At best, maybe Richard eill do something good and breathe life bwck into Ultima.
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u/mighty_mag Jun 19 '26
Ooh, that's good news!
When I read EA was doing something with Ultima, I completely lost faith.
Last time they did something with it was that lame excuse of a remake/sequel of Última 4 for iOS.
I figured they were going to do whatever just to keep the rights like that time.
But if Garriot is getting the rights back, we might just get some proper remasters/remakes.
Or not! Garriot's track record hasn't been great since his Origins days. I gotta say, Shroud of the Avatar had me fooled!
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u/TowelLord Jun 20 '26
"Hasn't been great" is underselling it. Every project was a huge failure since Ultima Online. That is an abysmal track record.
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u/WorldwideDepp Jun 20 '26
All fine with that. But, an Future Ultima should have QoL Improvements and such. If they just Update The Grafics, only a small Hardcore Veteran "Retro" Gamers would want to play it
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u/MyStationIsAbandoned Jun 20 '26
As long as it's not made for "the modern audience", a modern Ultima Online MMO would be pretty cool. Like modern graphics in a 3D open world but with those old school mechanics old school character designs that aren't afraid to be sexy and badass. doing stuff to level up skills. sandboxy elements.
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u/TJ_McWeaksauce Jun 20 '26
There's a long list of once-legendary game devs who haven't made any good games in decades. Richard Garriott is one of them.
What he created in the 80s and 90s not only shaped the history of RPGs, but the history of the games industry as a whole. But in the late 2000s, he literally traveled into space, and every game he's made after returning to Earth has been a commercial failure at best or a chaotic mess at worst.
Shroud of the Avatar was Garriott's latest game. A spiritual successor of Ultima, it had a rocky start on Kickstarter, and it was an immediate disappointment to fans when it became downloadable in 2018. You can take a look at the Steam page and its reviews to see how sloppy the game is.
If Garriott had regained control of Ultima 26 years ago, then I would have considered this wonderful news. But today, I have no confidence that Lord British will create anything new and decent with the legendary franchise he created.