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Garriott exits NCsoft as profits plummet

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Nov 11, 2008 7:57 pm PT

Space tourist and Tabula Rasa creator wipes slate clean by resigning position at MMOG studio to pursue "new interests"; publisher reports quarterly income down 50 percent year over year.

Whether it was a spiritual experience or alien abduction, something happened to Richard Garriott in outer space. Less than a month after returning from a 12-day, $30 million stay aboard the International Space Station, the legendary game designer has abruptly resigned his position at NCsoft.

Garriot (r.) and the ghost of MMORPGs future.

"Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space," he mused in an open letter on the Tabula Rasa Web site. "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." He then apologized and thanked the game's developers, support staff, and subscribers.

Garriott had been involved with the Korean publisher since 2001, when, after leaving EA-owned Origin Systems, his startup Destination Games was bought and renamed NC Interactive. There, as CEO, he presided over development of the sci-fi massively multiplayer online role-playing game Tabula Rasa, which launched in late 2007 to decent reviews--and widespread technical problems. "I am very grateful to you loyal players for sticking around through what I think we can all honestly say was a rough launch," he said in his sign-off.

Garriott's move is the latest chapter in a decades-long career, which began with his creation of the single-player role-playing series Ultima in the 1980s and into the 1990s with his first MMORPG, Ultima Online. While sudden, his exit from NCsoft was not totally unexpected. Despite six years of costly development, Tabula Rasa failed to achieve critical mass, selling just over 61,000 copies at US retailers as of September 30, 2008, reports the NPD Group.

According to an earnings report released today, Tabula Rasa accounted for only 2 percent of NCsoft's revenue, or 1.76 billion Korean won ($1.3 million) last quarter. For the July-September period, NCsoft saw profits fall 50 percent to 5.0 billion won ($3.7 million) on sales of 78.3 billion won ($58.0 million).

Curiously, Tabula Rasa's monthly subscriber figures were omitted from NCsoft's report, which included figures for most members of the MMORPG specialist's portfolio: Lineage (881,979), Lineage II (857,531), and City of Heroes/Villains (124,939). To date, 5.59 million people have activated accounts for the Seoul-based publisher's free-to-play MMORPG Guild Wars.

94 Comments

  • EXODYS

    Posted Jan 1, 2009 2:22 pm PT

    A legendary game designer indeed. I'm glad for all the epic games Richard Garriot has given us during his long career, best of luck with his "new interests"

  • Adam_the_Nerd

    Posted Jan 1, 2009 2:01 am PT

    What a douche; taking a 30 Mill trip to space then just leaving

  • Docthebutcher

    Posted Dec 11, 2008 7:31 am PT

    VERY common for anything ran by NCSOFT to fail. No customer service, being in bed wth the farmers ( we proved that in lineage 2 ) ripping their PAY 2 PLAY players off. I beta TR I knew it was doomed. Another grind feast from ncsoft. I bet if Blizzard had control of TR it would be a MONEY making game. What ncsoft calls profits is a joke. They claim so much but are always losing money. Good riddens

  • jknight5422

    Posted Nov 23, 2008 1:59 pm PT

    Looks like Garriott needed to retire from game developing. Looking back at Tabula Rasa now, it seems that he hustled the Korean company to infuse him with a ton of cash to build a game with his name on it. I don't think Garriott cared if he succeeded or not, only that he could get to "fly into space" & then burn the bridge with NCSoft so that he could focus on the most important thing in his life: Himself!

  • _DeadlyFred_

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 2:03 pm PT

    Subscription fees are not a catch-all solution for revenue problems. Guild Wars has done very well for the company WITHOUT them. Tabula Rasa, sub fees and all? Not so much. Making people pay monthly does not turn a failure into a success.

  • Amir29

    Posted Nov 21, 2008 2:01 pm PT

    Hopefully he has developed an interest in developing a quality game. It's been quite a while now.

  • 33T_L33T

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 11:26 pm PT

    They should just create some exclusive content, or add subscription fees to Guild Wars 2...I mean at least then they can have decent updates because they'll be getting a regular income...Guild Wars is an awesome game, and I would gladly pay a small subscription fee

  • kytomasi

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 8:33 pm PT

    lol 12 days in space. I got banned for Lineage 2 over an stupid fight so w/e i'm glad to see their profits drop. Now they need to shut down.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 9:12 am PT

    Yup, ship is leaking and the man takes a dive for the nearest planet he could find ... so typical of him to do so.

  • endocrine

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 9:20 pm PT

    When you create free mmos that are aweful I am not suprised to see profits plummet

  • P0T

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 1:47 am PT

    TR was horrible. Lots of stuff that was promised in BETA still isn't in the game. It does not have many subscribers, hence them not publishing the most recent numbers. If it was doing so well, RG would not have left. He left a sinking ship

  • fluxdada

    Posted Nov 18, 2008 3:22 pm PT

    Wow. I guess coming back down to earth can make you realize a lot of things. Welcome Richard.

  • Lpedraja2002

    Posted Nov 17, 2008 2:51 pm PT

    Guild Wars offers great replayability for what you pay for and so does Wow. The 2 can't be compared fairly.

  • 7_armageddon_7

    Posted Nov 17, 2008 12:09 pm PT

    Guild Wars embodies the great model for no monthly subscription MMO's: excellent game quality, huge replayability, the best online PvP... all for 50$ instead of WoW's 20$ monthly fee (or something like that).

  • bertm1975

    Posted Nov 16, 2008 12:54 am PT

    Garriott...come back to Ultima please. A new Ultima game is desperatly needed.

  • aura_enchanted

    Posted Nov 15, 2008 1:17 pm PT

    tabula rasa isnt a bad game guys cut it some slack, its just that no one plays it which makes any attempt to take part a crappy experience. as for lord british himself you may not pass go, you may not collect $200 of monthly fees and you go directly to jail MF

  • aldrenar47

    Posted Nov 14, 2008 8:09 pm PT

    You have been slain by Lord British

  • runstalker

    Posted Nov 14, 2008 4:31 pm PT

    All those Tabula Rasa 'founders' subscribers and Dick Garriott fanboys must be happy that their $$$ went to his $30 million space trip and a golden parachute severance package from NCsoft. Nice investment.


    Some would say he has abandoned you, like Brad McQuaid abandoned his Vanguard people after launch, like Bill Roper abandoned his Hellgate faithful. These old-timers are getting burned-out too easily. Makes you wonder how much the games' core designs suffered, eh? Well, they all had their monster hits back in the day.

  • surdanis

    Posted Nov 14, 2008 3:31 pm PT

    has been

  • snakeyes101

    Posted Nov 14, 2008 2:52 pm PT

    Man this Son of a Biatch is one crazy fool!!

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