Last year, Garriott and NCsoft parted ways not long after the closure of Tabula Rasa and the developer’s trip to the International Space Station.
Then, in May, Garriott filed suit against his former employer for fraud, breach of contract, and negligent misrepresentation, contending that he did not voluntary leave the company, as NCsoft claimed. That dispute over whether Garriott had left of his own accord was key to the suit, as the man behind Ultima and Tabula Rasa had stock options that were affected by the nature of his departure. (Further details of Garriott’s suit against NCsoft are right here.)
According to a report today from the Statesman, Garriott’s was seeking $US47 million, not the $US24 million that was originally reported. The Austin, Texas jury awarded him $US28 million, which pleased Garriott enough to say “I am extremely pleased with the jury’s decision.”
Since leaving NCsoft, Garriott has focused his attention on his automata collection and his new venture, Portalarium. Going forward, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Lord British blow some of those millions on more trips to space.
Garriott wins $US28 million jury award in NCsoft suit [Statesman]
Hey Lord British, use the money to buy back ultima and make decent games again
I'll be sooo pissed if he uses that money to make a remote controlled bomb detonation radioactive robot xmas tree, with an angry live in beaver, ice cream machine and decorated in glowing ps3, xbox and wii controllers.
me too that's exactly what i was thinking
he's already filthy rich and yet he has to sue over a piece of crap game, this guy has lost all credibility in my opinion, he'll probably use the cash to take another space ride.
its this kind of BS greed that gets things cancelled in the first place
tv stars demanding more than what they should get because theve been on air for 5 seasons causing shows to loose budget or force others to close there doors to keep supporting it
i still dont see how he thought that his space flight was good publicity for the game it is again look at all these bags of money i have lets go to space
I loved Tabula Rasa and was really pissed that it was cancelled just as patches were starting to take it from great to brilliant. Regardless of what you think of him personally, Richard Garriot is one of the video game visionaries (Ultima was one of the original pillars of the PC RPG genre, together with Wizardry and Might & Magic), Tabula Rasa deserved FAR better than it got, and I really want to see what he can come up with next.
TR was a game rushed to market by NC against what RG wanted to do.
He was actively involved with beta testers and was campaigning internally for delays based on feedback.
If RG was every allowed complete control over an MMO it would be Duke Nukem or the fabled WOW killer.