I never know what my news reader will turn up, and I’ve got to say this one really surprised me.
But don’t get your hopes up too much, as Garriott explains why.
In an interview with Industry Gamers, Garriott actually brought up the Ultima franchise first, and mentioned that he found it funny that EA was using the Origin name for its online services. He then went on to mention that he’s actually had talks at “very high levels” about collaborating with Electronic Arts.
“I find the use of the word Ultima to be more interesting as they’ve tried to give that legs again. I hope that Ultima does survive forever, yet I also, of course, have my own very particular ideas for what Ultima can and should become over time and so we’ll see if they do things quite the way I would do them… since I’m not there at the moment,” he commented.
IndustryGamers asked Garriott if he could still collaborate with EA. “We would be open to that. In fact, we’ve had some discussions at what I’ll call very high levels, but the individuals who are currently shepherding the property don’t seem to be particularly interested in that, so we’ll see,” he replied. “Who knows? You never know what’s going to happen in the future… the doors always open if they were ever interested.”
As for those individuals who are “currently shepherding the property”, that would probably include Paul Barnett of BioWare Mythic. He is a big fan of Origin and Ultima titles, and is rumored to be working on an Ultima project of some sorts, as his so-called “secret project” that he tweets about. This week for instance, he’s posted this:
Ultima 4, free, on GOG.com , it’s a miracle. It’s like there is a plan to re-release all the great old origin games…. What can it mean?
Will be testing the secret project in London this week. Hoping for positive feedback. Latest build will be sent via dropbox!
I have a hard time believing that Barnett would turn Garriott down, so I’d be willing to bet that other personalities are at play, probably outside of the BioWare label.
Full article: IndustryGamers
via Eurogamer.net
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