[singlepic id=91 w=250 h=114 float=right]Okay, he isn’t talking about any of the Ultima games; he’s talking about the Need for Speed series. But for anyone who has ever lamented the fact that EA did indeed pressure Origin Systems to release Serpent Isle early and without large portions of its plot implemented, it’s a welcome (if bittersweet) thing to hear EA’s boss man admit the error of riding developers too hard:

…Need for Speed developer Black Box Studios was “on a death march, building for five years in a row,” citing a decline in sales between 2004 and 2007 as the end result. “[They were] annual iterations, they had to put it out; no rest for the weary,” Riccitiello said.

He then explained that “It was definitely our fault,” adding, “Those days are gone. We’re back in two studios and we’ve got them on bi-annual cycles.” In his opinion, the forthcoming Hot Pursuit reboot is the fruit of that changed-up development cycle. “This year is right back in the core action driving … it’s had a two-year dev cycle … I feel great about it,” he posited.

I’m going to risk a measure of credibility and suggest something crazy: perhaps the time has come for Ultima fans to offer Electronic Arts a measure of forgiveness. It’s certainly beyond debate that a lot of mistakes were made (although it serves to remember that for every silly imposition or policy decision that EA made back in the day, Origin made some manner of mistake as well), and I think we can all agree that the results — rushed, buggy games, plotlines that never got realized, canceled titles, and of course the closure of Origin — were beyond just unfortunate.

And I know — believe me, I know — there’s still a lot of hatred for EA in Ultima fandom. Heck, I felt that way at one point as well; Mass Effect was the first EA-produced game I’ve bought since Ultima 9 came out.

But all things must pass, and EA today is only the same company that oversaw Origin’s closure in the sense that it still bears the same name. We can see that above. Corporately, philosophically, EA today is a very different creature. Their policies on development strategies and windows have changed. Their management has changed…indeed, I can’t think of anyone in EA’s upper management who was at that or another high-ranking post during the Origin days.

And arguably, EA really does put out some good games these days. A few years ago, it seemed like they were getting by on their repeatable, established franchises (e.g. the various sports games), but now they are trying out new IPs, pushing out new (and frankly exciting) game ideas, and are really putting out a generally better class of product than many of their competitors. It still, I admit, seems a tad odd to say that…but it’s true.

We’ve been told flat out by the guys at Mythic Entertainment (the EA studio that is responsible for almost everything Ultima-related these days) that there is life yet in the Ultima name (above and beyond *sigh* Lord of Ultima), and interest in seeing more development done with it…more, that is, than another Ultima Online expansion pack. Of course, seeing any new life breathed into the Ultima franchise requires more than just a committed developer…it requires fans.

So if I might risk bleeding out still yet more of my credibility, as though from a slashed artery, let me suggest that perhaps Ultima fans should take another look at EA and maybe, just maybe, consider letting go of some of the anger that they feel toward the company. If anything new and exciting does emerge under the Ultima label, it will of course attract new fans…but it will also need, I would argue, the support of extant Ultima fans as well.