Still, doesn't that conflict with the fact the Apple IIGS was mentioned on the actual box for Ultima VI? I also do remember stories (rumours?) that coding had started on a IIGS port first, only to be halted very early on. It's hard to now imagine they never even had the Apple II on their radar.
I'm new to the group, and figure I'd start on a topic I know a bit about as one of the semi-obsessive Ultima Dragons. (We're at rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons , UDIC.org , and Facebook (just search for "Ultima Dragons"). Anyone interested is welcome to join us.)
Anyway, in addition to the Ultima VI box listing the IIgs, there were some ads that included the IIgs as one of the platforms, and most convincingly, the 1st edition of Shay Addams' "The Official Book of Ultima", which was written from interviews with Richard Garriott, states on page 87:
"[Garriott] had thrown out a year's work on the Apple after deciding to write it on the most powerful machine available, an MS-DOS clone, which would make VI the first in the series to be programmed on anything but an Apple. ... Probably the hardest part of the transition was getting Garriott to give up the Apple, and he promptly slapped an Apple sticker on his MS-DOS computer."
It doesn't specify that it was a IIgs, but it couldn't exactly be a IIe.BTW: I saw an older post about EA refusing permission to remake games unless it's for a ton of money: EA has to respond that way to keep control of the franchise. They've silently allowed fan-made freeware Ultima projects since the 90s; you can see them listed as "remakes" at UltimaAiera.com - and if you post to the Dragons' Facebook group, past remake creators/teams will attest to it & offer advice. :)