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With origins that go as far back as 1981, Richard Garriott's Ultima series is one of the most famous in the world of RPGs – which makes the fact that we haven't had a proper, mainline game since 1999 all the more puzzling.
The name is currently owned by Electronic Arts, thanks to the fact that it acquired Garriott's Origin Systems back in 1992. However, it seems that the legendary game designer and astronaut has been trying to revive the franchise for some time – and his efforts might finally be paying off.
As reported by 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."
So what's different this time? Well, Garriott reveals that he's using a slightly different tactic. There's a rule in US copyright law which enables creators to reclaim a copyrighted work after 35 years – and, as we've already noted, EA bought the Ultima series in 1992 – so that means Garriott can make a move in 2027. "And so, I have been waiting… finally, the time has come," he tells Gaar.
As noted by PC Gamer, this doesn't mean Garriott regains everything related to Ultima; he would only reclaim the copyright, not the trademark, which means he can't simply release a new game called 'Ultima' and expect to clean up. However, Garriott says that it is possible for the name to be included in a new 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 – who also created games such as Autoduel, Omega, Tabula Rasa, and Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues during his career – says he may be in a position to share more on this proposed Ultima revival at this year's Dragon Con, which takes place this August.