Last year was a big one for Ultima creator Richard Garriott. He had a 12 day jaunt in space and he parted company with NCsoft leaving the ashes of MMO Tabula Rasa in his wake. So what’s next for the video game designer cum space adventurer? He’s going back to his roots, telling the Beeb that he’s keen to get back into medieval fantasy, and probably of the online kind.
“After 25 years at Origin, the last thing I wanted to make was yet another medieval fantasy game,” Garriott explained “Now, after a very interesting break, I’m keen to get back into the fray and work on a new game. Probably medieval fantasy and probably online; there’s something very powerful about getting people together.”
Although it garnered a small following, it’s fair to say that Tabula Rasa failed to make an impact on the World of Warcraft dominated MMO market even with the name “Richard Garriott” firmly embossed on the cover. It isn’t much of a surprise that he’s now planning to go back to terra firma (sorry) and it would be even less surprising if it was part of the Ultima series, although the brand is currently held by publisher EA.
A past interview with Wired may cast some light on exactly what he’s got in mind. “I’ve got a really strong affinity for the type of game that is represented by Ultima Online,” Garriott revealed. “No one has gone back and followed up on that. Most MMOs since then have become more combat-oriented, and less of a virtual world; a place where you live. There’s good odds you’ll see me encourage the team to go that route.”
(via BBC)
Medieval fantasy is definitely the route he should take. If he takes on something that will ‘try’ to compete with WOW he’d definitely crash.. and burn.
Well, maybe there’s a chance he could come up with something good.. he did create Ultima.