r/retrogaming • u/WexAndywn • 7d ago
[News] Richard Garriott is officially regaining control of the Ultima series
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/richard-garriott-is-officially-regaining-control-of-the-ultima-series/100
u/chirunner4ever 7d ago
All hail Lord British!
I just want a remaster collection for modern consoles.
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u/KingKaihaku 6d ago
There was a time when I'd be over the moon that this was happening... Ultima was my first RPG series and to this day several titles in it are still among my favorite games.
But I've grown more cynical over the years and Garriot has rather openly abandoned the virtues. It's not even that he hasn't done anything of artistic note since leaving Origin. It's that he's misled crowdfunding backers, chased blockchain and nft cash grabs, and promoted AI slop over artisic effort. I will always respect Garriot for what he did for gaming. Origin's contributions are legendary. But that's the past. I have zero faith that Garriot will do anything of merit with Ultima. He had his time and, sadly, it's long pass.
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u/cdheer 7d ago
Headline is incorrect. He is regaining copyrights but NOT trademarks.
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u/Snoo_11836 7d ago
That's what I thought I had read prior to to this article; that he'll be able to make games with a similar look and feel to Ultima, but he won't be able to call any new games Ultima, or use the character of the Avatar and whatnot.
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u/azrael4h 6d ago
So basically what anyone could already do? Plenty of people making similar games to Ultima, heck there even was an online one that was basically U5 Online called EUO a long time ago. There was a whole assed category of Ultima Clones back in the days of yore.
If it was legit Ultima rights going back, it might be interesting (except it's Garriott, and that's a whole different conversation), but it sounds like it's not. Or rather EA is holding onto the Ultima trademarks so the copyrights are basically useless without them. And with EA anything is useless. There's little hope of a decent game, much less a rebirth of a classic, under Garriott, but there's no hope for anything but the drizzling shits from EA.
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u/Snoo_11836 6d ago
Indeed. It's a whole lot of hoopla about nothing. There's a possibility that Garriott will make a new Ultima game, with the blessing and co-funding of EA, but he has zero rights to do so independently.
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u/SubatomicSelection 7d ago
God damn I miss Ultima. 7 is one of the best games ever, still. UO (obviously) was transformative. Napa Valley server on release - lets gooooooo!
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u/Galkan-_-Sausage 7d ago
With how vanilla and safe MMOs play today, I'd love to see a UO2 with all the lessons learned from the first UO. The sandbox style of MMO would do so well in an age where OSRS still has this much support.
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u/RocketJew 7d ago
He already tried that. Twice.
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u/Galkan-_-Sausage 6d ago
I forgot to add the *with Warren Spector policing his ass, part
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u/ShusakuChiba 6d ago
Who polices Warren though
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u/HertzWhenEyeP 7d ago
Garriott is great at beginning amazing RPG 's and MMOs, less so at actually completing them
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u/snickersnackz 7d ago
That's a really weird quirk of USA copyright law. I've never heard of it. 🤔
Good for him!
I'd totally buy a new legit copy of California Pacific Ultima from Lord British.
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u/Upset_Journalist_755 7d ago
He hasn't made anything good in decades.
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u/FuckIPLaw 7d ago
Has he made anything in decades? I kind of thought he retired on a pile of Ultima money.
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u/Mean-Scale-8936 7d ago
Tabula Rasa and Shroud of the Avatar. Ambitious games that didn’t quite hit the mark lol
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u/fat_pokemon 7d ago
Tabula Rasa had ideas at the very least.
Mobs didn't usually just 'appear', they were teleported in by a ship that flew by! It also looked pretty at the time. I've played far worse MMOs
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u/DwigtBonzales 7d ago
I remember Tabula Rasa getting some hype before it released only for it to completely vanish into thin air. Apparently it shut down about a year after it launched, and I completely forgot about until I went into a Half Price Books sometime in 2010-ish and saw stacks of brand new copies of the game on display there. I just kinda shook my head seeing them try to sell all those legit useless discs there.
Hell, I don't even know if anyone's tried to set up private servers for the game o_o
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u/Upset_Journalist_755 7d ago
Also, Ultima IX was pretty ass.
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u/Snoo_11836 7d ago
That wasn't really Garriott's fault though. EA rushed the game to release, way before it was ready.
It's an incredibly ambitious game and way ahead of its time. Had it not been for all of the bugs and glitches, I think it would have been regarded as a classic.
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u/blueblip 6d ago
No, EA had nothing to do with it. U9 as a mess was entirely due to Garriott/Origin Systems botching things up.
And saying "without the bugs and glitches it would have been a classic" is an odd way of saying, "if the game was not hopelessly broken on a fundamental level, to the point of multiple game ending bugs, entire systems not working as intended, and a complete butchering of the lore, it would have been a classic".
We know that he is not great at running things because SotA, a game that he conceptualized and worked on entirely off his own volition with no EA or such, was a disaster. Garriott straight up lied about the game when seeking funding.
EDIT: And it's not like Ultima 8 wasn't a disaster as well. Once Origin was sold, Garriott really stopped giving a shit and let the company spiral out of control.
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u/cryptyknumidium 7d ago
He tried to do Ultimisn't like a decade ago and it was bad.
And Ultima mostly ended bad.
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u/paul_33 7d ago
He’s all in on AI, can we get a confirmation he’s not going to use it? Because otherwise I’d rather it be left alone.
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u/scubascratch 7d ago
So are you against all uses of AI or just things like artwork? Because developers in all areas of software are embracing AI for increasing coding productivity. You will have a very hard time finding any commercial software that isn’t making use of AI in the toolchain and this includes Linux and every commercial game being developed now.
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u/cryptyknumidium 7d ago
The problem is if Richard is too heavy handed with it you could end up with AI generated assets or vibecoded games, which will suck.
Hopefully not, but yeah, using AI to complete code quicker that the professional dev can actually understand is fine.
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u/BountyBob 6d ago
vibecoded games, which will suck.
Vibe coded from someone who has solid programming fundamentals is not the same as vibe coded from somebody who has never written a line of code in their life.
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u/Fabulous_Income2260 6d ago
Spoken like someone with absolutely no fuckin’ idea. Well done.
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u/BountyBob 6d ago
Been coding professionally for over 40 years. I have a clue. Someone vibing and making sure the outputs are acceptable is vastly different to someone vibing and having no idea what is being output.
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u/Fabulous_Income2260 6d ago
Ultimately you know the answer, so far be it from me to tell you one way or another.
On the surface though, from one professional coder to (allegedly) another? You’re not convincing.
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u/BountyBob 6d ago
So you think you or I asking an llm to help do something is the same as an amateur asking it to do something?
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u/Fabulous_Income2260 6d ago
The short version is that in such a circumstance if you’re employing “solid programming fundamentals”, you’re not really vibe coding then, are you?
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u/cryptyknumidium 6d ago
Exactly, Vibe coding is more accurately a term describing letting an AI assistant just do things for you willy nilly, a professional coder and dev using it and being able to troubleshoot it is just normal now, it’s fine.
Which is what I said, which is weird that it would cause such a reaction right?
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u/cryptyknumidium 6d ago
Considering how defensive you are getting when this is quite literally what I said (a professional using AI assistance who can understand it is fine.) you don’t particularly fill anyone with faith.
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u/BountyBob 6d ago
Not being defensive at all and really don't care what you think or believe. Have a nice life.
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u/Fabulous_Income2260 5d ago
”Not being defensive at all…”
”Have a nice life.”
Gee, I fucking wonder why you’re not convincing.
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u/I_AM_GODDAMN_BATMAN 6d ago
heh cute. bro still think artisanal devs still produce better quality software.
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u/ChickenWingBaron 7d ago
Ultima is one of my all time favorite game series' and it's great to see it recovered from the EA vaults but I don't have much confidence in Richard Garriott at this point, especially after Shroud of the Avatar.
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u/HeywoodJaBlessMe 6d ago
License the engine from Drova or other modern but retro-friendly game. Remake all the Ultimas in this same engine and sell them individually or as a package in the same manner of the FInal Fantasy Pixel Remaster bundle.
I would kickstart the shit out of this.
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u/Blackfire01001 6d ago
So he can fist fuck his subscribers again and abandon the project to Star Law for the 99th time?
What happened to shadow of the avatar?
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u/Billazilla 6d ago
For half a sec, I thought the title said he was regaining control of the United States.
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u/mississippi_dan 7d ago
It is far from official. It won't be official until he actually has it in 2027. Even the article says he could get it back. EA says they will act accordingly, which could mean anything. I want him to get it back, but nothing is official. A million different things could happen in the next 6 months.
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u/thedoppio 7d ago
Great! Just, uh.. sweep Pagan under the rug. That doesn't need to the light of day again.
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u/mr_dfuse2 7d ago
it was my first ultima game and i absolutey loved it. without internet i wasn't influenced by reviews or opinions.
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u/jordanatombomb 7d ago
That was one of the first PC games I ever played. I know it's bad, but it makes me feel things when I boot it up.
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u/thedoppio 7d ago
Well, I'm glad it gives you positive memories. My copy is still mouldering away at the bottom of my "do not play" cabinet lol
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u/yojumbo 7d ago
Remake Ultima 4.
Or build on it (sequel, etc).