If you enjoy some political shitposting, then you might already be following MMORPG founding father Richard Garriott on Twitter, and if so, you might also have seen a surprising tweet this weekend.
The Ultima Online creator happened to be in the middle of a vehement rant about a certain former president this weekend when someone suggested he take back UO from EA by crowdfunding the effort in order to “restore it to its former glory.” Now, this is actually a pretty common thing for Twitter gamers to ask Garriott, but this time, Garriott answered.
“I believe I will get it back ‘soon,'” he replied. And then when pressed as to whether he could speak more about that answer, he simply said, “Nope.”
As MMORPG fans know, the almost-27-year-old MMORPG Ultima Online is currently operated by the EA-backed studio Broadsword, which is run by Rob Denton, a former Mythic founder who also runs Loric Games. Broadsword also operates Dark Age of Camelot and Star Wars The Old Republic and has essentially become the studio where EA rehomes its aging MMOs rather than shut them down (hard to complain about that). And UO is currently in the middle of ongoing beta testing for its New Legacy ruleset server, so it does seem rather unlikely that it’d be sold right now.
We also must point out here that Garriott has become a bit of a persona non grata in the MMORPG industry following the mishandling of Shroud of the Avatar (see below) as well as a failed blockchain MMO with his name on it. Regardless, Garriott left EA in 2000, and EA has owned the Ultima IP since 1992; presumably, the only way to get it back would be to buy back the game to the IP – which isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, given Garriott’s wealth.
Obviously, until Garriott is willing to elaborate, this remains fully in the rumor zone – and whether gamers would even want this is a whole ‘nother story.
