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Tabula Rasa News - Garriott Announces Departure from NCsoft
Posted by Jon Wood on Nov 11, 2008 | 53 comments in our forums
Now that his feet are once again planted firmly back on Terra Firma, video game legend Richard Garriott used an address to the players of Tabula Rasa to announce that he is leaving NCsoft.
Garriott cited a desire to simply devote time and resources to other projects in a move that appears very sudden to those outside of the company. What this means, if anything, for the future of RGTR (his name accounts for the RG in the acronym) remains unclear. MMORPG.com will contiinute to follow this story as it develops.
Fellow Soldiers of the AFS,
I am happy to finally be able to write the players and community of Tabula Rasa. We've been on quite a journey together. First in creating a game unlike any other on the MMO market, then growing a loyal community and finally launching the game and its players into space with Operation Immortality. It has been quite an unforgettable journey, one that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
I am very grateful to you loyal players for sticking around through what I think we can all honestly say was a rough launch. I thank the development team for pushing hard to get polish, updates and new content out every month since launch...a feat that I think is unusual in MMO development. They have a lot to be proud of.
Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space. Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.
This news is difficult for me to deliver. I am honored to have worked with the team I've had and I'm grateful to the community who makes this game so unique and fun.
Thank you and farewell.
Well as much as I would have liked to see him actually finish the product he released, I guess overall this is really nothing to get upset over. I would have been more concerned if he was actually concentrating and focusing on his project Tabula Rasa... but with his trip to space I am sure he hasn't been focusing on the game for some time.
Oh well I guess we'll never see TR's true potential and it's hype lived up to where it "could" have been. Good luck in your pursuits Garriott.
I played many of OSI's (Origin Systems Inc) games that came out in the 1980's. Richard Garriott was a name I liked to see.. simply because back then it meant (most likely) a good quality game was coming.
The early Ultima games were a big reason I enjoyed computer gaming.
I was around for Ultima 9 and have mixed feelings on that. When he left OSI.. might as well just say when he left EA I understood that.
I bought TR based on that past... At this point its very mixed feelings.
I never really want to wish ill on someone and I hope he has success and/or enjoyment from whatever he is going to pursue now.
At some level I feel as tho NCSoft and the people who bought TR were cheated. RG never seemed to put much into the game after the PR phase was over. He only really seemed interested into "going to space".
I can understand that and in past interviews he had mentioned his father... So the idea was there. Yet its another thing to commit to a company.. a project and sell a product to a fanbase that you never really support.
If this is what he wanted to do.. I wish he hadn't been involved with TR at all. That he had just pursued his dream instead.
This isn't really meant to be negative and I know it will sound that way or be taken that way.
Its just the general idea you really shouldn't get involved in something you can't commit to. Especially when people depend on a job (people who worked on TR) or people that buy the product. With NCSofts current financials, both Garriotts having left the company (if I remember correctly) what future is there for TR, its team and its subscribers.
Regardless..
I do wish him well. He was part of some very amazing gaming experiences that I had "back in the day".
i think he is going to develop a space mmo to compete with eve and JG:E but he first needs to find another publisher with deep pockets to finance his next trip into space so he can do more hands-on research
I bid Garriot a happy journey!
After going to space I imagine it changes your perspective of life quite a bit. Personally I bet he will be pursuing paths outside of gaming entirely. Like Will Wright , he is a bit of a erratic man when it comes to his interests Who knows, maybe he will join the likes of Bigelow and his space projects launching a space station. Which I mite add seems to be going very well
When I first saw R.G. going to NcSoft, I thought woah, now a korean game will have the massive complexity of R.G.'s games. Sadly I think NcSoft bought R.G. as trophy to try and pwn off T.R.
Think Leaving NcSoft is the best thing he could of done, and he got some freebies like going into space !
He should team up with Brad Mc Grind the Jolly Green Ranger and Gaulte Gonard, it would triple the chance of getting funding. Three times virtualy zero is still virtually zero.
I don't think the man ever truly understood MMO players. NCSoft is better off without him.
All the guy has to do to get more space flight money is say he's going to make Ulitma 10. He would have alot of people throwing money at him.
Actually I suspect someone at NCSoft forced the Tabula Rasa project to change from a swords/magic/elf type game to that of a space alien FPS-style MMO. This was right in the middle of production.
Whoever made that decision was the person to blame for what Tabula Rasa turned into and how it launched. No one is talented enough to make that massive of a revamp in that short of time.
While I doubt Richard Garriot had that much control over the TR project that force that drastic of a change (and essentially dooming the gamge), I suspect it was the choice of some NCSoft executive fearing competition with WoW, it doesn't garuentee that RG would be able to replicate his past successes.
Sure he got to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to space, kudos. Now he has to deal with the image he is left with after dealing with NCSoft.
Link please.
I agree. The ORIGINAL TR looked like it would be genre shattering. Then it got emasculated into it's current incarnation.
Not suprising since he spent most of the time worrying about his space expedition. NCSoft is definitely headed in a new direction but wether that pans out or not has yet to be seen. I wish him the best of luck.
*THIS* is what TR was going to be. What some people said is definitely true, switching a game to something so different midway would be hard to pull off in even the most talented hands. I don't think RG's departure will have any effect on the game whatsoever.
The captain always sink with it's boat, he can't leave.
well it was only a matter of time before he left.
Oh man, I've been watching how they were gonna improve TR with new contents and updates and actually waiting to see how the Mech implementation would play out. Tried out the trial and liked it. The game has lots of potentials and hopefully it won't die after he leaves. Really seriously was thinkin of getting the game.
Being an old fan of Origin games its sad to see Richard Garriot had no luck with his partner NCSoft. I wonder wether he really had any influence in TR or if he was more of a name they hired. I never understood why Garriot didnt stick to what he was good in: making great single player RPGs like Ultima. Maybe he will return to his old virtues. There are too many cooks having their hands in mediocre MMOs and his expertise definitely lies not in them.
TR was a lackluster, mediocre game at best. I never got it why they totally skipped the initial design. Hope we hear from him and some cool RPG projects soon. Wish ya luck, Lord British.
*THIS* is what TR was going to be. What some people said is definitely true, switching a game to something so different midway would be hard to pull off in even the most talented hands. I don't think RG's departure will have any effect on the game whatsoever.
Well the core of TR was very smooth and the mechanics were well done. They just never did much with it.
However, what bothered me was... If you played Auto Assault.. if felt very much like they took the core of that game and built TR on it.
Right down to the paint loot and the forward roll you did when you jumped. Of course in AA it was paint for your vehicle isntead of your armor.. and your verhicle tumbled (just like your character does in TR).
Oddly enough AA was a lot of fun at first just like TR.
TR was great fun early on.. I really wish they had done more with it. The combat was fun, the way your character moved and in general I thought the mechanics etc were very well done.
They just didn't have enough of a game imho
So, wheres the pool about how long before he shows up to be part of yet another MMO failure?
I want dibs on 3 years.....
Hi, Late 90's calling, asking you if you're familiar with our "MMORPG" system, including one of the original and greatest MMORPG's of all time, Ultima Online. Ring a bell? Just the granddaddy of MMO's, which had more features and freedom than any MMO has ever been able to pull off.
But yeah. That guy was a hack, didn't have a clue what we wanted. Freedom? Role playing? A virtual second world? What the hell was he thinking?!
He is just getting clear of NCsoft so he can return to EA. He will be working with Mythic on the new version of UO. I know this because he was at Mythics offices several times last year. EA is determined to have the number one MMO in the industry, and they belive with enough money the right IP and RG they can beat WoW.
Hi, Late 90's calling, asking you if you're familiar with our "MMORPG" system, including one of the original and greatest MMORPG's of all time, Ultima Online. Ring a bell? Just the granddaddy of MMO's, which had more features and freedom than any MMO has ever been able to pull off.
But yeah. That guy was a hack, didn't have a clue what we wanted. Freedom? Role playing? A virtual second world? What the hell was he thinking?!
Yeah it rang alarm bells. Have you ever read what he's written about how UO turned out and why? Basically he says it was a like pushing baby seals into a shark pit. He had no clue whatsoever that would happen.
Link please.
www.youtube.com/watch
Here is a youtube video that has been floating around for a while.
Who knows how well that game would have done head to head with WoW, but someone forced way to many drastic changes on the team making Tabula Rasa. There is no possible way they could have recovered from that.
I hope they take his name off of the game title since he is leaving. I think it was stupid to put it on there in the first place.
Garriott was my hero in the 80s, but he's been a mere figurehead in this industry for at least the past decade. UO was primarily designed by Raph Koster. I'm not saying Garriott wasn't still involved then, but his version wouldn't have lasted 10+ years. I don't think he ever had squat to do with anything about TR other than maybe periodically commenting on somebody else's designs. I doubt he's spent any of his free time gaming since the 90s, and certainly not playing any time-consuming MMOs. He's a totally different person now from the guy who single-handedly wrote & marketed Akalabeth (look it up, and yes I played it). If he is ever associated with another MMO, be it "UO2" or something else, it will be strictly a marketing move, because his name *still* sells a few extra boxes. He will not be involved in the game's design , and will not measurably affect the game's success or failure.
For the record, I bought TR, but only because it was $10 at EB within a couple of months of shipping. It had nothing to do with Garriott's name being associated with it. And it was a much better game then I'd been led to expect...
Man!...and I was all set to pawn General Garriott ingame, I've been working at it for ages too, that sucks all that planning out the window, all those hours training, all that time setting up all for nuth'n!
Me thinks his head got hit by space debris on his way back to earth.
Wow! Watching that video... that game surely changed. But for the better, if you ask me.
When I started playing TR about a year ago I was stunned. I was in love. I was home. It felt like a FPS, played like a MMO, a dream. The idea of fighting for bases, claiming them, defending them, against an onslaught of far too many enemies... it was surely a wonderful dream. Hell, even leveling up, usually the most boring part of an MMO, was fun! Yes, people, grinding in this game is fun!
Then you're 50 and then you're... well, done. Nothing left to do. Well, except leveling up another toon. But I loved my character. I didn't want anything but my Engineer. Well, maybe a Xenobiologist, but I loved my cute little turrets! They were cute, they were damn powerful and I felt fine! I didn't want a spy, I didn't want a sniper, I wanted to continue playing my Engi!
The problem now is I think they cornered themselves with their story. PvP? How? Hell, we're fighting a losing battle for survival against some aliens and we should battle each other. For ... what, by the way? Prestige? Pride? As your General, I'd fire your rear out of the next orbital cannon if you started a gang war against other humans for bragging rights while we got worse things to fight!
If they reduced the aliens to some sort of petty nuisance so human vs. human battles made some remote sense, create the long promised player owned bases and gave it some meaning to fight over them, we could talk again.
But so far I don't see anything that could convince me I should renew my subscription that I ended in June. If you know anything that might change my mind, please go ahead. I loved the game. I just saw no reason to continue playing.
I think his brains are left behind in space. Ah well, I can understand that you get verry philosophic in space. If I was him I would just stop making money and I would buy myself an island ^^. What will happen with TR now? Will NCsoft quit with it? RG will now go back to EA or something, working a bid on UO or thinking about a new mmo?
What you need to understand is that RG hasn't actively contributed to a game's development in probably 15+ years. He's just a figurehead that rakes in piles of cash from the awful products and eventual sale of the company.
The game was great in concept but RG failed to deliver and basically cheated NC out of a lot of money for the product delivered. TR isnt such a bad game imo but truly deserved much more.
Well if this information is true then i understand the situation this way:
"The rat is leaving a sinking ship!"
What would you do if you had made a contract in the first place with which you aren't satisfied after a short period of time? You try to sabbotage the project in the best possible way and still to be a hero. And to me this is what's happening with TR.
Garriot was not very pleased with the TR project so he changed everything TR should have been so he could leave like this and turn to a project he thinks would be more sucessful.
Someone said that the "Captain is sinking with his ship" but this what Garriot is doing is nothing more then what i said at the beginning of my post. Believe it or not but Garriot never cared to much about this game and this is his final cut to a dying pray.
For those of you who claim RG was only some sort of "figure head" for the last 10 or 15 years...hmmm not so much.
Here is a list of the MMO's he helped create.
Ultima Online 1997 Windows Producer
Ultima Online: The Second Age 1998 Windows Executive Designer
Lineage 1998 Windows & Mac OS X Executive Producer
Ultima IX: Ascension 1999 Windows Director
Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle 2003 Windows Executive Producer
City of Heroes 2004 Windows Executive Producer
City of Villains 2005 Windows Executive Management
Tabula Rasa Nov. 2 2007 Windows Executive Producer
Please take note that big Rich helped create the grand daddy of of "Korean grinders" L1 and L2. In fact, when it comes to MMO grind, he pretty much pioneered it. L1 and L2 were emulated by probably hundreds of Asian games.
Next time you are b*tching about "Korean grinders" please keep in mind that it was a westerner that made it all possible.
Hopfully the influence of the "King of Grind" is gone now. Even L2 got rid of it.
Actually I suspect someone at NCSoft forced the Tabula Rasa project to change from a swords/magic/elf type game to that of a space alien FPS-style MMO. This was right in the middle of production.
Whoever made that decision was the person to blame for what Tabula Rasa turned into and how it launched. No one is talented enough to make that massive of a revamp in that short of time.
While I doubt Richard Garriot had that much control over the TR project that force that drastic of a change (and essentially dooming the gamge), I suspect it was the choice of some NCSoft executive fearing competition with WoW, it doesn't garuentee that RG would be able to replicate his past successes.
Sure he got to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to space, kudos. Now he has to deal with the image he is left with after dealing with NCSoft.
/QFE
I'm also aware that the original game was not at all like what was actually released. Indeed it was more of an RPG game that reminded me of StarWars Pre-CU. At some point, half way through production--probably past halfway--some corporate big-wig evidently decided that what this world really needs is a fast paced fps, MMO set in a sci-fi world. (Jeez where have I ever heard that before?).
I'm also aware that the original logos concept was watered down, likely by the shift in the game's vision, and that the game was struggling to get collision detection working in open beta (yikes). These are in fact the reasons I chose not to try it out. I also agree with a previous post that NCsoft was likely pimping their game with Garriot's name.
If I was Richard, having this kind of experience in my career, I too would think it might be a good time to fulfill the lifelong dream of going into space. Many times in my career as a Social Worker I thought, "I wish I'd have become an astronaut" lol.
I imagine one can get a new perspective on things up there, literally and figuratively. This move makes a lot of sense to me, I wish Richard great joy and success in his future adventures.
Actually Garriot was just a figurehead in "importing" already existing game to the west from Korea, at least where Lineage 1 was concerned. Probably, despite his titles, he was just an Egyptian god doll that priests of NCSoft dragged around to show at important occassions.
Even UO was mostly Koster's child and Garriot was even then just a name to promote the game. Last real time RG was actively involved in planning and development would have been Ultima VI/VII era.
As I already stated, I really think that his departure will have no effect on TR whatsoever. As for the other comments, I agree with many of them. I think that the combat in TR is good, personally, but there is a lot of room for improvement in other areas. They actually have a pretty solid dev team these days. We'll see where it goes in the near future.
Garriott was my hero in the 80s, but he's been a mere figurehead in this industry for at least the past decade. UO was primarily designed by Raph Koster.
My take, exactly. NcSoft got a name but they didn't get a game because they didn't know who really made UO what it was. Certainly the Garriotts weren't going to tell, they were too busy going around accepting Hall of Fame awards for Koster's genius.
But it sucks that he took their money because he wanted a ride into space, took seven years of everybody's life, when he knew all they'd get out of the deal was a hyped-up turd.
Wiki will let you down. It's run by fanbois and idiots who think they can control history by censoring other people. Lineage was created by Jake Song. Remember when the Garriotts couldn't get along with Song and he got canned? Song did use Koster's UO as a model for Lineage.
Certainly Richard was happy to take credit for anything he could, and fool anyone he can... he's just classless that way. He's out there claiming to have cured diseases with the "experiment" he took into space. He's a total poser.
It is just as likely that Richard Garriot had his hands effectively cut off from the creative process in TR, just like Brad McQuaid was in when SOE bought EQ and Raph Koster was in after SOE rushed SWG out the door. I'm sure Richard got screwed over when EA bought Origins, because that is what EA does to companies they buy and it sure looks like NCSoft did something similar here.
Big software companies tend to hire talented people and not support them in a manner that lets them excel and do what they are good at.
Thats a dream I can only hope for, heh. ^^
Tabula Rasa removed the serious grind
Actually I suspect someone at NCSoft forced the Tabula Rasa project to change from a swords/magic/elf type game to that of a space alien FPS-style MMO.
Indeed so, just like OSI / EA ripped him off, NCSoft did the same thing - forced him to change his vision of the Ultimate mmo.
Frankly at this stage of his life i kinda hope he moves beyond the rip-off commercial games industry and produces a series of indie films that explore his original vision expressed in the Avatar series.
With the election of Obama we're at a crossroads culturally in where we go in the 21st century. Garriott has something important to contribute to this .
Mr. Garriott, can I have your stuff? Just askin.. =P
Richard Garriott aka Lord British is one of my heroes, even though I've never met him in real life I know he's a very cool guy full of inspiration, I've met him online in UO during the beta test 3 times, first was randomly at his castle second the same and the 3rd was when he was killed by Rainz at blackthorn's castle, anyway I've sent him completiton certificates from the Ultima series and he signed them and returned them that's how cool a guy he is, this was in 1999. Anyway I know he's the type of person that spends tons on halloween haunted houses just to make others happy, also I know he's the type of person that can't be tied down to a company he doesn't own and have full control of for too long, he's too talented and creative, and when he says he recieved inspiration in space he's not just using it as an excuse to leave NCsoft, he probably had a major vision of inspiration, hope he doesn't give up making one last great game, but if he does I'll still consider the Ultima series a greater trilogy than any, including books, I have almost every copy of the series, I'm missing Ultima II & III, but I consider the writing and depth in those games so great that they soar above such writings as lord of the rings or any other fantasy I've read, those that only know his Ultima series from UO I feel sad for, because they know virtually nothing of the Ultima lore which was so amazing that I'm inspired by them on a regular basis. I did get a chance to turn to the NASA channel and I missed his interview but I breifly saw him live in space, that was very cool to see.
Garriott was a producer for the western release, he had nothing to do with the development of Lineage in Korea.
Link please.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------On the matter of TR game direction and studio issues, the link that explains it all is
right here
We might keep in mind that rarely is one person responsible or at fault for a good or bad game. It is a team, and if the team fails its usually due to a multitude of issues. If you take the time to read the link, you can see the incredible difficulties that the TR team faced during all of it's iterations. Nightmare. No wonder the game sits on a precipice.
Also, for those of you speculating on Garriott's design abilities, keep in mind that producer, executive producer and executive manager are very different from design or lead design positions. It is a good idea to understand the various roles of team members before praising/attacking them. As a producer on Lineage Garriott would be involved in overseeing the game being brought to North American audiences, not designing or developing the actual game, but he was an executive producer which means he may have only given some suggestions or consulted. Its all speculation without hard facts.
I for one have the utmost respect for Garriott and I look forward to any game he may attach his name to.
Dev
Not saying he did not have input, but that list is a load of nonsense if you think he was that big a contributer on most of those beyond UO. I think Ralph Koster would beg to differ with you about how much design he did on UO. Richard has been pretty much a figurehead since the first Ultima's, I don't think any of the following titles benefited from his insight at all. City of Heros/Villains was not even written by NCSoft, he most certainly was strictly a figurehead on those.
Next time understand your topic before throwing out garbage.
Gen. British and his squad changed it midstream after a bad review from a focus group
The original concept was to conquer both American and Korean markets with a P2P MMO
But it proved to be a more daunting task than could be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time
I think it's quite great the way it is being all SciFi and such, was actually imho one of the more fun to play SciFi mmos out there.
I really enjoyed this game. To bad it had to go south like it did. So much potential! I left with the rest of clan defiance on peg.
Ohwell it was fun while it lasted.
Regarding the comment by Daffodi11, "Sure he got to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to space, kudos. Now he has to deal with the image he is left with after dealing with NCSoft."
TheRedPill holds up one hand, palm up, in which lays an imaginary free pass to space.
TheRedPill holds up her other hand, palm up, in which lays the imagined sum of her own reputation.
TheRedPill laughs. "Is this a trick question?"
Somehow I doubt that the a man who has 30 years invested in tolkein fantasy based games was so unerved by feedback from a focus group that he decided to scrap the entire concept and change the games vision to a space shooter. I am willing to bet he has had to do more than his fair share of fun factor redesigns in his previous games after some testing.
This is exactly the type of decision I can see some pencil pushing executive make in reaction to focus group testing.
Well I wish Richard Garriott the best of luck in his future interests.
I just have to say, however, the perhaps if he focused more on developing his games rather than going up into space, TR may have survived longer. Not sure, but it seems to me he didn't give 100% effort to TR which was supposedly his pet project.