Origin Systems

Lore & Background

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. 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. In September 1992, Electronic Arts acquired the company for $35 million in stock. By 1996, Origin had expanded to more than 300 employees. In 1997, Origin released 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 IX's poor reception, EA canceled all of Origin's new development projects. Richard Garriott left Origin shortly after and founded Destination Games in 2000. In February 2004, the studio was disbanded by Electronic Arts.

Reader's Guide

Origin Systems was a developer and publisher of computer games, best known for the Ultima and Wing Commander series. Its first game was Ultima III: Exodus. The company was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1992 and eventually disbanded in 2004.

Did You Know?

• Origin's first internally developed and published title was Ultima III: Exodus, not Ultima I.
• Origin survived the video-game crash of 1983 because its games were released on computers and not consoles.
• Origin released one of the earliest graphical MMORPGs, Ultima Online, in 1997.