Garriott "would continue" Tabula Rasa News

Ultima and Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott has told GameDaily that he's disappointed that NCsoft didn't stick with his science-fiction MMO longer.

"Of course, I wish it had continued," Garriott said. "I also, personally, think it should have continued - in the sense of, it was a game that was hitting its stride enough where it could keep what I'll call a critical fan base, and had the opportunity to continue to be grown."

Garriott left NCsoft in November following his trip to the international space station. Weeks later, the MMO publisher canned his game. Garriott's remarks to GameDaily suggest he no longer had much influence at the company by the time he left.

"If I were in charge, I would continue to grow it, because MMOs are long-term plays, and that's what you should do with them," he argued. "That being said, we had already lost a fair number of critical team members... I wish it had continued." "I think NCsoft looks at it as an opportunity cost issue - where they put those resources and people on that, or something new. They chose something new," Garriott said.

Garriott told GameDaily that he was "still in the middle" of debriefing, medical experimentation and analysis of his space flight, and has no plans for further game development just yet. But he expects to return.

"Some day in the future, it's hard not to assume I will get back into gaming," he said. He didn't rule out a return to Ultima, or new ventures in either single-player or online gaming.