Richard Garriott has led an interesting life, by all accounts. Born in Cambridge, England on July 4, 1961, the son of a NASA astronaut, Garriott is the first explorer to have explored pole to pole, orbited the Earth, and reached the deepest point in the Ocean, all in one lifetime. Oh, and he created the Ultima series of video games.
While Garriott's adventures on Earth and in space are remarkable achievements, many players will most appreciate him for creating the games that went on to inspire many of the game elements we take for granted today, especially in JRPGs.
Garriott's work had such an impact on the Final Fantasy series that the developers named a powerful spell after his series. Yuji Hori (creator of Dragon Quest) credits the Ultima and Wizardry franchises as his inspiration. And Shigeru Miyamoto reportedly took inspiration from Ultima when creating his famed open-world environments in The Legend of Zelda.
It's clear the industry and players owe a great deal to Richard Garriott and Ultima. Now the beloved franchise and its creator will be reunited at last thanks to an obscure but suddenly important quirk of US copyright law. Section 203 of the US Copyright Act indicates that authors can retain control of copyright they have sold after 35 years, provided they give 1-year notice to the new holders... which Garriott did in April of this year.
According to Garriott, Electronic Arts acknowledged his notice and understanding of the law, and has promised to "act accordingly."
At present, Garriott is in discussions with Electronic Arts about what projects they may or may not pursue together. The rights should revert to Garriott in September of 2027, 35 years after he sold Origin Systems to Electronic Arts for $30 million.
"The point is I have control again of the future of my seminal product line," Garriott told Jesse Petrilla (video above) in a brief interview, while noting that rereleases are the least that might happen, but also possible sequels.
After initially acquiring Origin Systems, Electronic Arts released new Ultima games for several years, including Ultima Online in 1997 and Ultima 9: Ascension in 1999. The company next turned its attention exclusively to online projects, and Garriott left soon after that. He then founded Destination Games in 2000. Origin Systems was disbanded in 2004, and Ultima hasn't amounted to much since. Online games Lord of Ultima and Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar both came and went without leaving a lasting impression.
With Garriott taking control of Ultima again, one might hope for great things from the franchise once more. However, it's important to temper expectations. Garriott has had resources and control in his post-Origin career, most notably while acting as CEO at NCSoft Austin. But as Tabula Rasa proved, there are no guarantees of success. His attempt at a spiritual successor to Ultima, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, also underperformed and is now operated by Catnip Games, without the benefit of Garriott's ongoing involvement.
Ultima once did amazing things for the industry, and Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar was a truly amazing experience that I thoroughly enjoyed while playing its NES port. I would love to see that game come back and even generate a proper sequel, complete with everything that made the original great and more besides. But it all seems unlikely at this point. We may have reached a time when Ultima no longer has a place in the industry except in remakes and compilations, even with Garriott back in control. Only time will tell, but one hopes for the best.
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