Richard Garriott suing NCsoft for fraud

By Oli Welsh Published 6 May, 2009

Claiming USD 24 million damages.

Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott is suing his former employer NCsoft for fraud, to the tune of USD 24 million.

The suit was filed yesterday at the Texas Western District Court, as you can see at Justia. The legal eagles at Kotaku spotted it.

Richard Garriott left NCsoft late last year after his 2007 science-fiction MMO, Tabula Rasa, failed to perform. Ten days later, the Korean publisher announced that it would discontinue the game.

Garriott and his brother had effectively headed NCsoft's US operations since the company bought their Austin, Texas studio, Destination Games. Since then, NCsoft has restructured its US and European arms into NCsoft West, led by executives from Guild Wars developer ArenaNet.

We'll bring you more on the court case as we hear it.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    FRAUD ACTIONS! Sorry.

  • Rirekon #2 3 years ago

    Oh god, this is going to be a mess

  • Wastelander #3 3 years ago

    They should fire Richard Garriott into space.
    Wait, what!?

  • kangarootoo #4 3 years ago

    Fraud?

    This sounds like of those "start off with a massive claim and then work it down to an agreed payoff" type cases.

  • Pirotic #5 3 years ago

    Do they even have $24m?

  • optimusprym8 #6 3 years ago

    /popcorn

  • mingster #7 3 years ago

    NCsoft easily have $24M yes..

  • IronCladChicken #8 3 years ago

    @retrend
    I dunno - back in his Origin days he made the best games - JRPG's are basically watered down versions of the Ultima series.

  • hiddenranbir #9 3 years ago

    Richard I bailed on my Game Garriot.

  • iokthemonkey #10 3 years ago

    Update on Massively.com:

    This morning, GamePolitics added their .02 to the mix and upped the ante with the legal documents involved - and boy, are they illuminating. According to Richard's side of the story, it goes like this: Richard & co form Destination Games, and are bought out by NCsoft in exchange for some very hefty stock options. After Tabula Rasa launches, Richard gets tapped for a space flight he signed up for some years prior. After talking to NCsoft higher-ups, he is approved for, and goes on, extended leave to take his space flight. During this time, he continues doing PR for Tabula Rasa, including Operation Immortality. Flight (and PR stunt) successful, Richard touches down to Earth, goes into quarantine in Russia, and NCsoft calls him to drop the hammer - while he's stuck in Russia, decontaminating. No choice, no warning, nothing. "So long, and thanks for all the Bane."

    According to the documents, this is where the fraud comes in to play. They apparently terminated him and yet classified him as a voluntary termination - in other words "he quit." This means that all the stock options he had either had to be cashed in (at a significant loss in a craptastic market) within 90 days from his date of departure, or it was gone. To add insult to injury, the "open letter" that was purported to be from Richard Garriott to the loyal fans of Tabula Rasa? He claims it was written by NCsoft - not him. So, NCsoft - according to the court documents - terminates Garriott, sends the Destination Games team packing, shuts down TR, authors a letter they say is from Garriott to the community, then falsifies his termination paperwork stating that he left voluntarily - and was not terminated.

    Considering NCsoft is already in a pretty nasty place with the current Worlds.com lawsuit going on, dealing with a series of layoffs and slipping profits, this new action against them by Garriott doesn't bode well. The question now becomes how much merit this lawsuit has - and just what NCsoft's response will be. In the meantime, stock up on popcorn folks, because this drama llama's got some legs, and we're betting this isn't going to be the last we hear about it.

  • sin724 #11 3 years ago

    That sob Richard Garriotte jumped ship on Tabura Rasa and now is tryin to get more money so he can make another space trip!

  • Figgernaggot #12 3 years ago

    Nice ShopTo advert. £34.25 for TR? How can I lose?!

  • Valendel #13 3 years ago

    I played Tabula Rasa for a while. During the time Richard Garriott held the helm of the ship, it was an original and very interesting game.
    As soon as he stepped back to prepare his space flight, the new guys that took over issued a number of patches in a short period of time that completely changed the game, destroying Garriotts original concept in a thrive to follow the WoW trend and so (hopefully from NCSoft's point of view) attract more players.

    The result, as any player could have told them, was that the player base quickly shrinked, as people left the game in disgust.
    Soon it was like an alien desert and NCSoft had to close it.

    THAT is the true story of TR's demise. I don't know if Garriott's claim in court is true, valid or if he will win or lose, but I'm not surprised at all and I am inclined to believe him, since it suits the perceived attitude of NCSoft towards the game he created and his opposition to the changes made in his absence.

    Considering it took 6 months after I cancelled my subscription for NCSoft to stop charging my credit card and that I'm still awaiting a refund on that, I really hope Garriott strips not 24M but 240M off their ass! :)
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/09 @ 22:14