Ultima creator Richard Garriott plans to reclaim series copyright from EA in 2027

Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima who goes by Lord British, is planning to reclaim the copyright to his classic RPG series from EA as early as next year. The news surfaced after EA filed multiple new trademarks for Ultima, prompting Inside Games to reach out to Garriott directly.

US copyright law gives original creators the right to reclaim their work 35 years after signing it away. Garriott sold his studio Origin Systems to EA in 1992 for $30 million, which puts 2027 right at that 35-year mark. "Every decade or so, I tried to work with EA on a revival of Ultima," Garriott told Inside Games. "They always seemed interested enough to start talking, then abandon talks just as quickly." Now he's done waiting: "And so, I have been waiting… finally, the time has come!"

There's a catch, though. Copyright and trademark are different things. What Garriott reclaims covers source code and audiovisual elements from his original work — the creative DNA of the series. EA would still hold the Ultima trademark, meaning Garriott couldn't simply ship a game under that name without a branding workaround. He's already acknowledged this, saying that "Lord British's Ultima will regain all the copyrights of my original work" — the name itself signals the likely direction. The series hasn't had a mainline entry since 1999, and the last game with any connection to the IP was Underworld Ascendant in 2018, which had a rough reception.

Garriott is set to appear at Dragon Con in Atlanta later this year, where he says he hopes to have "more thoughts together about what that will actually mean." Whether EA's fresh trademark filings are a defensive move, a sign of their own revival plans, or just routine legal housekeeping remains unclear. Either way, Ultima's future is suddenly a lot more interesting than it's been in decades.