Origin - 35 Years of Influence

TechRaptor looks back at Origin:

35 Years Of Influence - A Look Back at Origin Systems, Creators of Ultima and More

There was a whole lot going on in the world of computers and games in the years leading up to the founding of Origin Systems in 1983. It was the golden age of the arcades, and Dungeons & Dragons was probably more popular than ever with the release of the accessible Basic Sets. As the Apple II approached obsolescence and the Apple III was touted as purely a business computer, the IBM PC was launched in 1981 and the Commodore 64 in 1982. With these computers available to a wider audience, homebrew games became a more tangible cottage industry. It was in this environment that Richard Garriott self-published Akalabeth: World of Doom in 1979, famously using Ziploc bags as packaging for the floppy disks.

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It is now hailed as the first “immersive sim,” a niche of first-person games allowing high interactivity with game environments.

Stopped reading there.

The last ten years have seen it plummet from grace, to depths I never thought a company could fall to, both in terms of productivity and respect. What a sad shadow of a former far greater self it is today, and I suspect it will never regain an iota of that lost respect and potential.

From Lord British to Lord Buffoonish.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
The last ten years have seen it plummet from grace, to depths I never thought a company could fall to, both in terms of productivity and respect. What a sad shadow of a former far greater self it is today, and I suspect it will never regain an iota of that lost respect and potential.

Indeed. The poster child for gaming companies falling from grace. =(

I would that Garriot would have just stayed away

Originally Posted by joxer
Stopped reading there.

I didn't get that far. Didn't read any of it just came in to read the comments

Originally Posted by Carnifex
The last ten years have seen it plummet from grace, to depths I never thought a company could fall to, both in terms of productivity and respect. What a sad shadow of a former far greater self it is today, and I suspect it will never regain an iota of that lost respect and potential.

Origin was disbanded in 2004, it hasn't been a "company" in over 14 years. Not sure what you're referring to other than perhaps the digital store app that they slapped the Origin trademark onto? This article certainly isn't talking about that thing, it's talking about the (supposedly) lasting influence that Origin has had on games, despite being gone for so long.

I never played the Ultima games. I was a Wizardry and Might and Magic fan. But I had great respect for that series and it is sad to see what has become of Garriot.

Like so many others, I really enjoyed the single player Ultima series. I just wish Garriott enjoyed making them as much as we loved playing them, then maybe he'd make a new single player game, which I think he could still do, and it'd probably be great.

Origin at it's peak was far more than Richard Garriot i.e. over 300 employees. He had minimal involvement in a lot of games they put out i.e. Strike Commander and Privateer. Yes, it is a shame what happened to Lord British but the company still put out a load of the greatest games of all time.

Right behind the Wizardry games and the Bards Tales, the Ultima games were some of my favourites of all time. I cannot even look at them now, let alone think of playing one. and that isn't anything recent, I've not touched one in years. I don't see that ever changing.