Origin Systems

Origin Systems, Inc.

Former type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video game industry
Fate	Disbanded
Successor	Destination Games
Founded	March 4, 1983 (1983-03-04)
Defunct	2004 (2004)
Headquarters	Austin, Texas, U.S.
Key people	Richard Garriott and Robert Garriott (co-founders)
Products	Ultima series Wing Commander series Crusader series Strike Commander System Shock Wings of Glory
Parent	Electronic Arts
Website	www.origin.ea.com (archived from 1997)

Origin Systems, Inc. (commonly referred to as Origin, sometimes abbreviated as OSI) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas, which was active from 1983 to 2004. It is best known for the Ultima and Wing Commander series.

History

Brothers Richard Garriott and Robert Garriott, their father Owen, and Chuck Bueche founded Origin Systems in 1983 because of the trouble they had collecting money owed to Richard Garriott for his games released by other companies.^[1][2] The company's first game was Ultima III: Exodus; because of Ultima's established reputation, Origin survived the video game crash that occurred that year. It published many non-Ultima games, and Richard Garriott claimed that he received the same royalty rate as other developers.^[3]

By 1988 Origin had 15 developers in Austin, Texas, and 35 other employees in New Hampshire.^[3] In September 1992, Electronic Arts acquired the company^[4] 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 Initial Public Offering before agreeing to the deal.^[5]

By 1996, Origin had expanded to more than 300 employees, most of whom were divided among small, largely autonomous development teams.^[6] 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 in 1999. However, within a year's time, in part due to Ultima IX's poor reception,^[7] 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

The 1980s version of the Origin Systems logo

The 1990s version of the Origin Systems logo

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):

• Eric "Maleki" Avila – Player Relations Manager (1995–2004)
  • Head Game Master for Ultima Online. Was responsible for live content and event coordinator program from 1997–2004. Left Origin to assume role of Customer Service Manager for Blizzard Entertainment (World of Warcraft).
• Raymond Benson – Writer, Audio (1992–1993)
  • Was head writer on Ultima VII: The Black Gate, contributed some writing to Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, and went on to work as a game designer for MicroProse and Viacom New Media, then later became an official continuation author of the James Bond novels.
• Tom Chilton – Lead Designer (2001–2003)
  • Was lead designer on Ultima Online: Age of Shadows and went on to be a lead designer for Blizzard Entertainment.
• Rob Corell – Programming, Voice Acting (1992–1995)
  • Worked on the Wing Commander franchise, Ultima VIII: Pagan and Crusader: No Remorse. He went on to Simtex where he worked on Master of Orion II. He then spent 11 years at Adobe Systems as a senior architect for numerous projects, including CreatePDF.com, Adobe Bridge and Photoshop.com. He currently works at Portalarium.
• Britt Daniel – Sound Designer, Composer (1994)
  • Was a composer for numerous titles and went on to found the rock band Spoon.
• Marten Davies – Director/VP Sales (1991–1994)
  • Having founded the first UK games software publisher in the US, Firebird Licensees Inc. in 1985, went on to co-found Digital Anvil with Chris Roberts and others.
• 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)
  • Went on to work at Digital Anvil.
• Richard Garriott – Co-Founder, Game Designer, Programmer (1989–2000)
  • Aka "Lord British", creator of Ultima; later co-founded Destination Games, acquired by NCsoft. Co-founded and now works at Portalarium.
• Robert Garriott – Co-Founder, Business (1989–2000)
  • Brother of Richard Garriott, co-founded Origin Systems and Destination Games.
• Paul Isaac – Lead Programmer (1987–1997)
  • Was technical lead on the Wing Commander series and Strike Commander. He later became a lead developer at Digital Anvil, worked on Freelancer and more recently joined Certain Affinity as engineering lead.
• Raph Koster – Lead Designer (1995–2003)
  • Later joined Sony Online Entertainment in Austin developing Everquest II and Star Wars Galaxies.
• 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.
• Aaron Martin – Developer (1990–1992)
  • Developer of gaming systems for multiple releases. Focused on Assembly language and C++. Developed and ported 3D graphic engines, and interactive music systems to enhance, and provide next-gen gaming experiences. After, he went into "security" and decided to become an engineer and capitalist around the globe.
• Mike McShaffry – Lead Developer (1990–1997)
  • Later co-founded the other Austin studios and has written and taught on game development theory.
• M. A. "Al" Nelson – Art Department Manager, AP (1991–1992)
  • After Origin, Nelson worked as a project manager at Sony Online Entertainment and BioWare.
• Sheri Graner Ray – Writer, Designer (1993–1994)
  • Went on to work with several major companies including Sony Online Entertainment and Cartoon Network. Also founder of Women in Games International.
• Frank Roan – Game Designer, Programmer, Director, Producer (1993–1998)
  • AI programmer on Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, lead programmer on Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom, project director on Wing Commander: Prophecy, senior producer in Maverick group.
• Chris Roberts – Game Designer, Creative Director (1989–1996)
  • Creator of the Wing Commander series, Strike Commander and later the Starlancer, Freelancer, and Star Citizen space simulator games. Co-founder of Digital Anvil, later acquired by Microsoft. Co-founded and now works at Cloud Imperium Games.
• John Romero – Programmer (1987–1988)
  • Was shortly working for Origin before co-founding id Software.
• Andrew Sega – Music Composer (1995–1998)
  • Aka Necros; was a Software Engineer/Composer who went on to work for Digital Anvil.
• Zack Booth Simpson – Programmer (1992–1995)
  • Was Origin's director of technology and research fellow and went on to co-found Titanic Entertainment and later became a pioneer of interactivity as a fine art with installations in museums around the world.
• Warren Spector – Producer (1989–1996)
  • Producer of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss which was developed by Doug Church and Looking Glass Studios, as well as its sequel, System Shock, Wings of Glory and numerous other titles. He later joined Ion Storm and managed its Austin office, creating Deus Ex. Later co-founded the now-defunct Junction Point Studios and now works at OtherSide Entertainment as its Studio Director.
• 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.
• Jason Templeman – Programmer, Game Designer (1989–1995)
  • Worked on Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire and was lead programmer for Strike Commander. He and Paul Isaac produced the 3D graphics system that Origin used for the rest of its history. Jason later founded and presided The Logic Factory, winning several awards.
• Richard Tolar – Programming (1997–1998)
  • Was one of the Linux port team members.
• Brian White – QA, Artist (1995–1999)
  • Was on the Felucca design team.
• Tony Zurovec – Programmer, Designer (1992–1996)
  • Was the designer on Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret and worked on Ultima VIII: Pagan. He went on to work with Digital Anvil on Loose Cannon.

List of games

References