EA Denies Talking With Richard Garriott
For fans of the Ultima series, this news [that Garriott was in “discussions at very high levels with Electronic Arts” about getting his hands on the Ultima franchise] was outstanding, but EA says none of Garriott’s claims are accurate.
“I’m not sure what Richard Garriott is referring to,” EA’s head of corporate communications, Jeff Brown, told IndustryGamers. “No one at EA is discussing partnership or licensing opportunities related to the Ultima Online franchise.”
See also: this article at IndustryGamers.
In one sense, this doesn’t actually preclude the possibility that Garriott is in discussions with EA about doing something with Ultima. He floated the idea that his upcoming “Ultimate RPG” would be a kind of spiritual successor to Ultima Online. The Internet, being the Internet, took that and ran with it, mutating it into something it probably wasn’t. (To be fair, I didn’t help things with some of my phrasing in the article I posted yesterday.)
But anyway: the truth of the matter is that nothing Richard Garriott said implied doing something explicitly with the Ultima Online property. He said, simply, what is quoted above — that he had been in some high-level talks with EA. Presumably, those pertained in some way to Ultima, though not necessarily to Ultima Online. And evidently, they haven’t amounted to anything in the way of…oh, I don’t know…a plan forward.
That is damn interesting. I’m know a bit about office politics and can only imagine what happened. Garriott probably made contact with someone at EA who he knew (or a fan at EA contacted him to keep him in the loop about the new project[s]). Garriott, having his heart strings plucked at the news of a heavyweight Ultima project, naturally wanted to get involved despite the bad blood and put forth his desire to do so to the employee. Who knows how far up the chain it was sent, but at some level it was curb stomped and the official EA line is that no communication took place.
Yes, EA specifically mentioned that no conversation about Ultima Online took place, but I’d call that splitting hairs without further addressing whether any communication at all about the Ultima IP in general occurred. The message from EA is pretty strong and clear, or they’d have not mentioned it at all. “Fuck off,” sadly.
Ultima is Garriott’s first born child, left on the doorstep of wealthier parents just to keep it alive and growing. Later in life he pines for it, wishing he could teach it all he’s learned since. The new parents however have their own plans and naturally are quite possessive and defensive, mistrusting the father who gave it up.
To arms, to arms I say. Let the swords be sharpened, the armor repaired, and the cry of battle ring once again. What’s in a name, after all?
Also I’m confused about “Cayeux”. Is that his wife’s home town, which he’s adopted as part of his surname? Like “Jason of Skara Brae” for example?
I love the phrasing. Jeff Brown mentions Ultima Online, but Garriott has never said being in talkes about UO… solely about using the Ultima IP in general whoops. If anything the way this denial is phrased makes me inclined to believe Garriott even more 😛
Not that I believe anything will come out of it, but you never know.
As for De Cayeux, it’s his wife surname – it’s a french nobility name actually, hence de “De”. Cayeux probably refered to a place at some point in time, though there isn’t a town simply called “Cayeux” anymore as far as I can tell. And it seems he has basically adopted his wife’s name, hence “Richard Garriott De Cayeux”
The whole thing sickens me as much now as it did when things went down back in the end of Origin’s days.
@Sergorn: Hopefully Garriott is to be believed. I know he’s a cunning guy and sometimes remembers things a bit creatively (don’t we all), but I seriously doubt he would outright lie about talking to EA about working with Ultima in the future. Talking doesn’t mean negotiating of course.
@Scythifuge Dragon: Ouch. I didn’t quite think about it that way, but it makes me feel bad to even entertain the notion. I’m just glad he’s working with a few of his old friends like Dallas Snell and that they have projects moving forward. He may underestimate just how much game development a small team can do with limited resources these days. I think he’ll do well if he really concentrates on just making the game(s). That he has help is a huge benefit if they also work on it regularly.
I think EA probably has more than just mistrust, but a bit of fear if only of the uncertainty his involvement might introduce. I think Garriott belongs in a small company, and that most revenue should come from sales rather than investment. It really is okay if less than ten people rake in a few tens of millions of dollars in a few years. Contractors could run errands and improve the server hardware and such, while Garriott and company could scheme and program.
I’m absolutely sure he’s not lying about these talks happening… but, and this is probably more worrisome, he doesn’t quite understand how very different the news cycle for such things is today. Richard Garriott is still thinking of the faceless corporate monolith he dealt with in the 1990s and not a company that employs social media managers specifically for rumor control in stories like this.
(If there’s some technicality on EA’s part it’s going to end up that it wasn’t a formal meeting–he’s been hashing out a plan over lunch with executives or something. I don’t think EA corporate knows the difference between Ultima Online and Ultima in 2011…)
I have seen many things come full circle in my life & in the world in general over the past couple of months. Perhaps EA & Garriott can come full circle too.
Either way, many in the Origin fan community have been angry, confused & sad over the situation for many years. I hope that our emotions aren’t being played with. The fact that “talks” may be happening & that EA are releasing the old titles through GOG could be good signs of better things to come….full circle.
Oh I think the old titles coming to GOG as well as that Ultima Forever website are definit sign of better things to come for Ultima.
Whether Garriott is a part of it or not is a whole different question altogether though.
It certainly feels like change is in the air this week, with Garriott talking about this in public and Paul Barnett moving to a new studio…
That’s confirmed, then? Paul is moving to Sacramento?
I mean, I saw his tweet and picture…but there’s been no real formal announce that he’s parting ways with Mythic.
That, or I just missed noticing it…did I?
Wait, wha?
Anywhere Paul Barnett ends up, I wish him luck. He’s a very passionate man about what he does.
Oh regarding Garriott talking about this in public, I’m thinking this is a clever ploy to show EA there is interest in this. He is not an idiot and knows the minute he starts talking about his interest to do a new Ultima, it’ll be all over the internet.
And while there are people for whom he’s become kind of a laughing stock, the fact of the matter is whenever the idea of him doing a new idea pops up you can see a peak of interest – I can’t count the number of time I’ve seen people seeing things like “Just do a new Ultima game and all will be forgiven”.
Now of course RPG fans would probably prefer him shepherding a AAA Ultima VII kind of game rather than a possible Facebook Ultima Online clone but still, this might prove there is interest and I’m thinking Garriott is counting on that to sway EA in his direction.
Is it possible that this is just the usual Richard Garriott “reality distortion field” situation, where he just casually talked with some EA employees at some gaming event and that turned into “discussions at very high levels” in his mind?
Heh?
Nothing about the kind of outright lie/delusion you describe strikes me as being “usual” for Garriott. 😛
And honestly Garriott knows enough people in the industry so that it woule not be surprised if he manages to have informal discussions on the subjets with some EA higher ups.
The truth is probably a lot less interesting then we’d like to believe. Is Richard Garriott full of it? Is EA just denying the talks, for sinister reasons? Or is it more mundane? Either was I am now hooked, and will be awaiting with bated breath! lol
Anything is possible with my father, my teacher, my secret lover RG. The way I see it he’s at the very least drumming up interest in his new game as very ultima like.
Call me crazy but I really prefer this perspective and the graphics of ultimate collector to anything triple a graphics orgasm. I hope he can channel his energies into creative world, story, and features. On the other hand I’d like to buy the game once and play it than play for free and feel pressured to buy better cooler stuff ingame. I guess I’ll adapt…
I love isometric 2D graphics, but that being said I think Ultimate Collector looks really ugly. :- P
That’s not really important for this kind of game, but I hope that when New Britannia comes along (whether it’s part of the Ultima IP or not), it’ll have damn good graphics. My understanding is that Garriott already decided for an isometric game, which is fine for a UO successor really, now just make it look gorgeous – browsers games can do better than this and it should look better than UO does !
All I hope really is that he manages to bring a strong plot component in it.
I dunno I like the bright colours. The graphics are fine.
While graphics are all well and good, ultimately gameplay rules. It’s always nice to hook some new players who otherwise would have ignored the game by using great textures and graphics tech, but that candy only lasts so long if there’s nothing compelling underneath. Part of the money he’s raising through this game will no doubt be used to create richer and more detailed tilesets and animations.
3D modeling/texturing/rigging/animation/lighting/optimizing in my estimation is a waste of resources if you have a great idea but a small team and budget. I think he’s taking the prudent course.
Plot is cool, but I don’t think it should consume a lot of resources like heavy graphics work does. Better to make the game fun to play, even if players don’t care about the plot. It could still have a great plot, of course.
Well… frankly I’m a plot-whore.
You can give me the best gameplay in the world, but the plot/dialogue/universe is bland and boring and lame, I’ll just lost interest and often won’t complete the game at all.
On the other I can live with a bland gameplay if the game has a damn good and compelling plot to follow.
So to me plot is very important.
That being said I thought UO worked well without its plot compenent because it had a strong community and roleplaying came easy in spite of the l33ts that could pop up, but I’m not sure I would have the same interest in the exact same kind of game anymore.
Indeed the lack of any decent form of plotline is the reason most RPGs have bored me to death before SWTOR