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Wikipedia / Origin Systems

Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott, his brother Robert and their father Owen. Origin is best known for the Ultima and Wing Commander series. The company was purchased by Electronic Arts in 1992.

History

Brothers Richard and Robert Garriott, their astronaut-engineer father Owen, and programmer Chuck Bueche founded Origin Systems in 1983 because of the trouble they had collecting money owed to Richard for his games released by other companies. Origin was initially based in the Garriotts' garage in Houston, Texas. The company's first game was Ultima III: Exodus; because of Ultima's established reputation and the fact that the company's games were released on computers and not consoles, Origin survived the video-game crash of 1983 which affected console game developers in North America. It published many non-Ultima games, and Richard Garriott claimed that he received the same royalty rate as other developers.

By 1988, Origin had 15 developers in Austin, Texas, and another 35 employees in New Hampshire. By 1989 it had 50 employees between its New Hampshire and Texas offices. By 1992, Origin Systems had sold more than software units worldwide.

In September 1992, Electronic Arts acquired the company for $35 million in stock, despite a dispute between the two companies over EA's 1987 game Deathlord. Origin, with about $13 million in annual revenue, stated that it had considered an IPO before agreeing to the deal.

By 1996, Origin had expanded to more than 300 employees, most of whom were divided among small, largely autonomous development teams. In 1997, Origin released one of the earliest graphical MMORPGs, Ultima Online. After this title, Electronic Arts decided that Origin would become an online-only company after the completion of Ultima IX: Ascension in 1999. However, within a year's time, in part due to Ultima IXs poor reception, EA canceled all of Origin's new development projects, including Ultima Online 2, Privateer Online, and Harry Potter Online. Richard Garriott left Origin shortly after and founded Destination Games in 2000.

In later years, Origin mainly existed to support and expand Ultima Online and to develop further online games based on the Ultima franchise such as Ultima X: Odyssey, originally to be released in 2004 but later canceled. In February 2004, the studio was disbanded by Electronic Arts. The Longbow series of simulation games was developed at Origin and published under the Jane's Combat Simulations brand of Electronic Arts. A follow-on project, Jane's A-10, was under development when the project was canceled in late 1998 and the team moved to other projects.

Notable employees

Origin employed many young game developers over its tenure who have since gone on to leading roles in numerous game development companies, especially in Austin.

Among its prominent employees were (alphabetically by surname):

Raymond Benson – Writer, Audio (1992–1993)

J. Allen Brack – QA Tester (1994–2000)

Tom Chilton – Lead Designer (2001–2003)

Britt Daniel – Sound Designer (1994)

  • Was a sound designer for numerous titles and went on to found the rock band Spoon.

Ken Demarest – Game Designer, Programmer (1990–1995)

  • Created the technical prototype for Ultima Online, directed BioForge, led programming on Ultima VII: The Black Gate and coded on Wing Commander.

Martin Galway – Sound Designer/Composer, Audio Technician (1991–1994)

Richard Garriott – Co-Founder, Game Designer, Programmer (1983–2000)

Robert Garriott – Co-Founder, Business (1983–2000)

  • Brother of Richard Garriott, co-founded Origin Systems and Destination Games.

Jeff Hillhouse – Facilities (1983–2004)

  • One of the company's first employees who helped grow its early supply chain and facilities operations.

Raph Koster – Lead Designer (1995–2003)

Scott Kreuser – Supported the entire software roadmap

  • Went on to work for Dell Computer as a Worldwide New Product Project Manager.

Starr Long – QA Lead, Designer (1992–2000)

  • Director of Ultima Online, and co-founder of Destination Games.

Denis Loubet – Artist (1989–2002)

  • Was the first artist Origin hired. He did many box cover paintings, manual illustrations, in-game art and animation, and cinematics.

Mike McShaffry – Lead Developer (1990–1997)

Sheri Graner Ray – Writer, Designer (1993–1994)

Chris Roberts – Game Designer, Creative Director (1988–1996)

John Romero – Programmer (1987–1988)

Andrew Sega – Music Composer (1995–1998)

  • Aka Necros; was a Software Engineer/Composer who went on to work for Digital Anvil.

Dallas Snell – Vice President of Product Development / Executive Producer (1985–1996)

  • Head of Product Development, Producer or Executive Producer of Origin's titles between 1986 and 1995. Later served as Director of Business Development for NCSoft North America. Co-founded Portalarium and served as Director of Development and Chief Operating Officer.

Warren Spector – Producer (1989–1996)

Paul Steed – Artist (1991–1995)

  • Was a leading artist on the Wing Commander series and went on to serve as an art lead for id Software on the Quake series.

List of games

Canceled

References