In a somewhat surprising move, Electronic Arts has quietly released a new title linked to the Ultima franchise. The videogame is browser-based and free to play at the moment, in its beta stage, under the name Lord of Ultima. It is rather strange to see the Ultima series, which is the grand daddy of all role playing experiences, transformed like this but it can ultimately find a following amongst hardcore gamers.

Lord of Ultima is focused on building and then managing the affairs of a city set in a fantasy world, with the mechanics pretty similar to those of the Settlers strategy games. Players are free to communicate and to interact with others but it's not clear whether the gameplay in its current state will be kept for the final version

The Ultima series was launched in the pre-history of videogames in 1981 with Richard Garriot being the main force behind the series. It has since then released titles on the PC, home consoles and handhelds, and Ultima Online, the MMO based on it, was an early hit before the launch of Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

Origin System, the developer of the series, was bought by Electronic Arts and the publisher planned to release two titles linked to the franchise, Ultima Worlds Online and a single player-oriented Ultima X: Odyssey. Neither of the games arrived on store shelves mainly because the original developers left the team and EA lost patience.

Lord of Ultima is being created by EA Phenomic, which has previously worked on the SpellForce and also released BattleForge since it was bought by Electronic Arts. That titles attempted a free-to-play model financed by money used to buy game cards and Lord of Ultima might also use such a model when it is officially released.