It's not uncommon for players to ask Richard Garriott about Ultima Online. Some even ask if there's any possibility of him getting the rights and IP back from EA, occasionally going as far as suggesting a crowdfunding campaign. Generally, these are just wishes into the ether, but yesterday, Garriott’s response was a little surprising.
The subject came up once more, in a reply to a political post Garriott over on X (Twitter) made (H/T MOP), with user Derium saying:
“We should crowd fund you buying UO back from EA, so you can restore it to its former glory and we can finally have the best mmo made back. meaning we can dive back into it and forget about all this real world insanity that’s grinding away at our souls.”
Most of the time, as questions like this are nothing new at this point, there wouldn't be much, but this time, Garriott’s response was surprising.
I believe I will get it back “soon”.
— Richard Garriott (@RichardGarriott) August 11, 2024
“I believe I will get it back “soon””- he posted. When asked if he could speak more about it by the surprised user, the one word answer was clear: “Nope”. So, if there's anything happening behind the scenes this time, we'll have to wait to see if anything comes of it. The fact that the possibility has been raised by Garriott himself is something different, particularly by using the word soon.
Could we be close to seeing a deal? Start speculating now.
