Richard Garriott aka Lord British’s Ultima series is one of the most important series when it comes to RPGs, having laid the groundwork for much of the genre. The series has been owned by Electronic Arts since it purchased Garriot’s company Origin Systems in 1992, but now it seems that the legendary game designer and astronaut, who has been trying to revive Ultima for a long time, may finally see his efforts might pay off.
According to PC Gamer, Inside Games’ Brian Gaar recently got in touch with Garriott to discuss EA filing new trademarks for the series, and Lord British revealed that he had been trying to come to an agreement with the IP owner for some time.
“Every decade or so, I tried to work with EA on a revival of Ultima,” Garriott told Gaar. “They always seemed interested enough to start talking, then abandoned talks just as quickly.”
This time is different though as Garriott has revealed that he’s using a slightly different tactic, namely a rule in US copyright law which enables creators to reclaim a copyrighted work after 35 years . Given that EA bought the Ultima series in 1992, Garriot can legally make a move on this in 2027.
“And so, I have been waiting… finally, the time has come”
Garriot did note that this does not mean he will regain everything related to Ultima, as he would only reclaim the copyright, not the trademark. In other words, he cannot simply release a new game and title it ‘Ultima’. What Garriot can do though, and what he has suggested is that the name can be used in a future release.
“‘Lord British’s Ultima’ will regain all the copyrights of my original work,” he says. “What it will become is the next challenge.”
Garriott says he may be in a position to share more on this proposed Ultima revival at this year’s Dragon Con in August, so hopefully some good news will be shared.