EA denies Garriott's claims of new Ultima

Old school gamers around the world felt a chill run up their spine a few days ago as Richard Garriott made comments that indicated he was in high-level talks with EA to revive the Ultima franchise. However, that may not be the case.

"I would love to have access to the Ultima property," Garriott was quoted as saying on December 12. "We've had discussions at very high levels with Electronic Arts about access to the property. We're in discussions with Electronic Arts even now about a possible marketing and distribution relationships and things of this nature."

However, come December 15, EA isn't singing the same tune. "No one at EA is discussing partnership or licensing opportunities related to the Ultima Online franchise," said Jeff Brown of EA in an interview with IndustryGamers.

Unfortunately, we don't have closure on this story even though we badly, badly want it. However, it's worth noting that the policy of major publishers in recent years has been to outright lie to cover up leaks. So there's definitely still some merit to the idea of an Ultima revival being in talks.