[MUD-Dev] Lord British gone

["Geoffrey A. MacDougall" <geoffrey#poptronik,com>]

Title: Lord British gone

Semi-off topic for this list - but of interest, none the less, I believe...

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http://headline.gamespot.com/news/00_03/30_pc_outdadoh/index.html

Lord British Leaves His Origin

According to various reports surfacing on the net, Origin Systems co-founder Richard Garriott, or Lord British to Ultima fans everywhere, has left Origin. Different sources say he either was laid off or quit. An internal memo purportedly from Origin CEO Jack Heistand confirmed Garriott's departure. The memo also indicated that over 20 employees were laid off as well, with a possible 30 more layoffs to follow within the month. Apparently, all projects other than Ultima Online 2 and UOLive have been canceled, including Privateer Online and Garriott's secret "X" project.

One of the reports comes from a news lead published at Lum the Mad's Site, which reprinted the internal email from CEO Jack Heistand. In the internal email, Heistand broke the news of Garriott's departure, writing, "As Richard and I discussed his vision of what he wanted to do - create new large properties, OSI simply could not pursue those endeavors. Wishing Richard only the best and all life has to offer as he embarks on his new challenges." Citing specific reasons behind the sudden split, Heistand went on to state that Electronic Arts was prepared to infuse Origin and its Ultima franchise with 16 million dollars; however, "deploying precious resources" behind Web-based games and Privateer was not "prudent." In other words, proven properties are Origin Systems and EA's priority.

Despite the bad news for fans of Richard Garriott, Heistand's alleged email contains some good news. It seems that with a refocused effort on key products, Origin Systems will be able to produce Ultima Online 3 in relatively short order. And although Garriott's future plans are still unknown, he may seek to produce his games elsewhere.

By Jennifer Ho, GameSpot

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Able to shed some light, Raph?

Cheers,

Geoffrey