E3 2001: Richard Garriott unveils Destination Games

Richard Garriott, the game designer who created the popular Ultima and Ultima Online role-playing games, today announced his new development studio, Destination Games. The studio will be part of the Korean game company NCsoft, which operates Lineage: The Blood Pledge, the largest subscription-based online game in the world. According to the company, Lineage currently has more subscribers than the three biggest US-based subscription-based online games--Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call--combined. The game has more than 2 million active accounts in Korea alone and has hit as many as 180,000 simultaneous worldwide users.

Destination Games will work with NCsoft and NC Interactive to improve support and visibility for Lineage in the North American market. Garriott will work with his brother, Robert, as well as Ultima Online cocreator Starr Long and Lineage creator Jake Song. Together, the team will launch new online games in both North America and Asia.

"This is a match made in heaven," said Garriott. "We're excited to leverage NCsoft and Jake's experience to help us launch our games in Asia."

For more information, take a look at our 2666812previous coverage of Lineage. Destination Games has not revealed any information about its other upcoming online games at this time.