Even if you haven’t been following the retro games collecting scene – which certainly intersects with the Ultima fandom at some points; original copies of Akalabeth are, for example, highly prized as collection pieces, and most Ultima games shipped with well-designed game boxes filled with all manner of treasures – you may have become aware of the scandal that has recently emerged therein. A scandal, we should note, that Dominus from the Exult team had a significant role in exposing:

The retro gaming community is accusing a fairly active member of selling fake copies of classic games. Evidence has come forward to show many of the floppy disks, boxes and even art may be forgeries.

Enrico Ricciardi has been an active member of the Big Box PC Game Collectors retro game Facebook community. Ricciardi is a moderator and is a known seller of classic games. However, the community has come forward after one member received a game from Ricciardi that had more than a few discrepancies.

One member of the retro game community named Kevin purchased a copy of 1979’s Akalabeth: World of Doom from Ricciardi. This game comes from the mind of Richard Garriott. It is a rare title as it is one of the first RPGs. Upon receiving the game, Kevin began discussing his concerns with his copy with other members of the community. Together, they put together an investigation into Riccardi and found a number of games sold were fakes.

The investigation is pretty detailed; you’d do well to click the link in the quote above if you want to see specific examples. MobileSyrup (and other outlets) have summarized the matter thusly:

Labels for the games did not appear to be in line with the printing process from the time. At times the dirt and cosmetic markings on the labels looked as if they were printed on. Tests of some of the games conclude that no game data is on the disk. The group also accuses Ricciardi of handmaking disk labels. The retro game community believes “there is at least one black box Ultima 1 that we think may be fake that was graded by WATA.”

That last sentence, by the way, is a significant bombshell in and of itself; WATA is a widely-recognized source for grading the authenticity and value of video game collectibles. That a suspected forgery slipped past their analysis and was graded as authentic is surprising, and a testament to the high quality of the forger’s workmanship.

It is estimated that more than €100,000 of forged/fake games may have been traded by Ricciardi over the course of the last several years. 

Richard Garriott did wade in to the conversation around these items after Dominus’ initial tweet:

Lord British also cautioned that Ricciardi may not have been the source of the faked materials, or at least not the only source:

And this is a valid point: it may be that Ricciardi was himself duped into acquiring faked/bootleg copies of these collectible items. Not that this would excuse producing forgeries in turn, nor would it absolve him for knowingly passing along a forgery as a legitimate piece.

The investigation is ongoing, and no doubt there are many more details yet to emerge. Shortly after the above revelations came to light, the CGW Museum weighed in with an analysis of their own, detailing several other likely forgeries that Ricciardi either produced or sold; the weight of evidence presented is compelling, and some Italian news sources are even suggesting that the FBI may now be involved in investigating these matters. While video games are not thought of as having the same high standing as, say, paintings, international art forgery is a severe crime; it is not impossible to imagine that Ricciardi could be facing some significant legal consequences for all of this.

Enrico Ricciardi’s name may be familiar to some of you outside of his association with Ultima collectibles; he’s also a professional photographer and produced a loosely Ultima-themed calendar of scantily-clad models several years ago. More recently, he was also involved in the promotion and production of Andrea Contato’s Through the Moongate. The good Mr. Contato has, for his part, disclaimed any knowledge or involvement with these forgeries.