Company

Origin Systems

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. 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. By 1988 Origin had 15 developers in Austin, Texas, and 35 other employees in New Hampshire. 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 Initial Public Offering 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 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, 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.


58 Games
Ultima
Ultima

Jun 01, 1981

Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress
Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress

Aug 24, 1982

Ultima III: Exodus
Ultima III: Exodus

Aug 23, 1983

Caverns of Callisto
Caverns of Callisto

Dec 31, 1983

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Nov 01, 1985

Autoduel
Autoduel

Dec 31, 1985

Ultima: Exodus
Ultima: Exodus

Oct 09, 1987

2400 A.D.
2400 A.D.

Dec 31, 1987

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny

Mar 01, 1988

Times of Lore
Times of Lore

Dec 31, 1988

Knights of Legend
Knights of Legend

Aug 19, 1989

Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar

Sep 20, 1989

Space Rogue
Space Rogue

Oct 01, 1989

Windwalker
Windwalker

Dec 31, 1989

Tangled Tales
Tangled Tales

Dec 31, 1989

Omega
Omega

Dec 31, 1989

Wing Commander
Wing Commander

Jan 01, 1990

Ultima VI: The False Prophet
Ultima VI: The False Prophet

Jun 01, 1990

Bad Blood
Bad Blood

Dec 31, 1990

Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi

Jan 01, 1991

Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 - Martian Dreams
Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 - Martian Dreams

Sep 30, 1991

Ultima: Runes of Virtue
Ultima: Runes of Virtue

Dec 14, 1991

Who Shot Johnny Rock?
Who Shot Johnny Rock?

Dec 31, 1991

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

Mar 11, 1992

Ultima VII: The Black Gate
Ultima VII: The Black Gate

Apr 16, 1992

Ultima VII: The Forge of Virtue
Ultima VII: The Forge of Virtue

Sep 01, 1992

Ultima: Warriors of Destiny
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny

Jan 01, 1993

Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds

Jan 10, 1993

Wing Commander: Privateer
Wing Commander: Privateer

Sep 22, 1993

Wing Commander Academy
Wing Commander Academy

Sep 27, 1993

Ultima VII: Part Two - Serpent Isle: The Silver Seed
Ultima VII: Part Two - Serpent Isle: The Silver Seed

Nov 01, 1993

ShadowCaster
ShadowCaster

Dec 31, 1993

Ultima VII: The Complete Edition
Ultima VII: The Complete Edition

Dec 31, 1993

Ultima VIII: Gold Edition
Ultima VIII: Gold Edition

Mar 15, 1994

System Shock
System Shock

Sep 22, 1994

Super Wing Commander
Super Wing Commander

Dec 31, 1994