EA Denies Ultima Talks With Garriott

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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EA Denies Ultima Talks With Garriott


Despite earlier reports, Electronic Arts says nobody is talking to Richard Garriott about a new Ultima game.

Richard Garriott revealed earlier this week [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114695-Richard-Garriotts-New-Project-Might-Be-Ultima-Online-2] that he's begun work on a new project, the creatively-named "Ultimate RPG," and that it could quite literally become Ultima Online 2. "We've actually talked to Electronic Arts about [Garriott leading Ultima Online again]. I would love to have access to the Ultima property. We've had discussions at very high levels with Electronic Arts about access to the property," he said. "We're in discussions with Electronic Arts even now about a possible marketing and distribution relationships and things of this nature."

But the hope for a new Ultima currently faces one major stumbling block: EA doesn't appear to know anything about it. "I'm not sure what Richard Garriott is referring to," Jeff Brown, EA's head of corporate communications, told IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-says-there-are-no-discussions-with-garriott-about-ultima-online/]. "But no one at EA is discussing partnership or licensing opportunities related to the Ultima Online franchise."

That led to some fast-talking clarification from a Garriott rep. "Richard is not CURRENTLY having conversations at high levels with Electronic Arts regarding the Ultima franchise. He never said that he is. I can assure you, however, that those conversations have taken place in the past," he said.

"What is taking place right now are conversations with EA as well as other companies regarding potential partnerships/distribution deals involving our other products including Ultimate Collector and our Casino games, Port Casino Poker and Port Casino Blackjack," he continued. "These are normal and expected communications taking place as we move closer to launching Ultimate Collector sometime after the first of the year."

That's a fine hair to split, although in the grand scheme of things it's not worth getting too worked up about; it's not like Garriott is selling weapons to Iran to finance Nicaraguan insurgents, after all. But it is kind of a shame that a new Ultima from the man who started it all may not be quite as close to hand as we though.


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Sixcess

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Feb 27, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
it's not like Garriott is selling weapons to Iran to finance Nicaraguan insurgents, after all.
*looks at picture accompany the article*

Um... are you sure about that?

Anyway, I like Lord British, even if he is quite possibly insane. If I was EA I'd give him the money just to see what he did with it...
 

bue519

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Sixcess said:
Andy Chalk said:
it's not like Garriott is selling weapons to Iran to finance Nicaraguan insurgents, after all.
*looks at picture accompany the article*

Um... are you sure about that?

Anyway, I like Lord British, even if he is quite possibly insane. If I was EA I'd give him the money just to see what he did with it...
Let's hope it doesn't involve another crappy sci-fi mmo. Seriously, does anyone still remember Tabula Rasa? I would be pretty hesitant to trust Gariot with anything over a facebook game. Sorry, but Ultima can carry you only for so long.
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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I have liked all the games he has done/worked on... But looking at pictures of an insane man makes me sad.
 

LordRoyal

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I'd rather Garriott make another pure Ultima game, or a remake then another Ultima Online game.
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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I'd play another Ultima game, but only if it starred Steve the Avatar from Nakar's Let's Plays, notably Ultima 7 Parts 1 & 2.

http://lparchive.org/search/ultima#results

"Awesome, a baby! I'd been hoping to get my hands on one of these. You know, for a weapon."
 

Azure-Supernova

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Aug 5, 2009
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Who are we kidding, to even get a sniff in todays RPG market an Ultima title would have to be so streamlined that it might as well be a fresh IP.
 

Clive Howlitzer

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Jan 27, 2011
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Can you imagine if that crazy person was involved with EA? I don't even want to think about what would come of that.
Anyway, would you really want EA involved in any way with Ultima? Keep it as far away from my RPGs as humanly possible.
 

Antari

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Nov 4, 2009
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Making a deal with the devil won't get you anywhere Richard. Think this out reasonably and just make your own game.
 

bue519

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cursedseishi said:
bue519 said:
Sixcess said:
Andy Chalk said:
it's not like Garriott is selling weapons to Iran to finance Nicaraguan insurgents, after all.
*looks at picture accompany the article*

Um... are you sure about that?

Anyway, I like Lord British, even if he is quite possibly insane. If I was EA I'd give him the money just to see what he did with it...
Let's hope it doesn't involve another crappy sci-fi mmo. Seriously, does anyone still remember Tabula Rasa? I would be pretty hesitant to trust Gariot with anything over a facebook game. Sorry, but Ultima can carry you only for so long.
Having played Tabula Rasa, it wasn't crappy. It wasn't amazing sure, but it was a fun and decent time waster to play, and a bit of a nice break from other games I was playing at the time.

It's only real issue was Garriott himself, or rather his complete and utter abandonment of the game when it actually needed someone as a leader. Instead of the responsible, intelligent thing of staying down on earth to help with the game post release, he took all those fresh bills he got and spent it all on his rocket ride. Part of me even believes he deserved none of the money he won in the lawsuit he filed against NCSoft because of it.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the "talks" he claimed he had were while he was in the bathroom staring at a reflection of himself in a mirror, which shattered shortly afterwords because of the sheer amount of "ego" it was forced to handle and reflect.
Quite a brilliant answer. I remember just being quite excited for that game and waiting to get into it. But, it seemed to fade out almost as quickly as Auto Assault. That just leaves a rather sour taste in my mouth when it comes to Gariot despite all the good will that was built up over the years. But maybe he does deserve a second chance and possibly could create a pretty awesome new MMO with which I can waste all of my spare time on.