Sierra: “We Probably Didn’t Treat Garriott As Well As We Did Some Other Authors”
At the end of his post about passing the NES port of Ultima 5, Origin historian Pix also includes an curious image, which can be seen cropped above, or in full at Pix’s site or The Origin Gallery.
The scan is courtesy of Sierra Gamers run by Ken and Roberta themselves who have a full archive of Interactions on their site. Curious to see an admission that Sierra didn’t treat Garriott all that well at the time. There must have been some regret at this stage about letting the series go but I’m sure there was more to it than Ken Williams not liking RPG’s with the main grievance being the royalties on ports of Ultima 2 as I understand it. If Richard and Ken had got on better, Origin would never have been formed of course so it turned out well enough for us gamers in the end.
And yes, he’s posting this because of The Digital Antiquarian’s recent comments on the Sierra-Garriott rift.
Some trash talking, indeed. Someone should write and perform a rap song about game dev personalities clashing in verbal combat. An RG retort for said rap song:
I never did like you and
You’re aging on years.
They call me Lord for reason
Back to deamons’ fears.
You got my blood up, raging
Shit is under control.
Portalarium waging, bettin’
On your immortal Soul.
You gonna pay up bitches
Please respect my shit.
Got the market hedged like
X, Y, ICBM’s.
Crowdsourcing, foraging
Suiting the beggars.
Got so much green now
We’re punishing the keggers.
Transient thoughts of
Persistent player agency.
Choose your online Path
To interactivity.
Holdin’ the fortress down
You can Buy it for a Dollar(TM).
Got your denizen’s fix?
We’ll Citizen that for a Dollar(TM).
Now that the oxygen levels have reached nominal levels, let us pray: Dupre. It’s good for you, and helps the local economy in many ways.