Richard Garriott, Ultima’s Lord British and founder of legendary (now defunct) development company, Origin, spoke to BBC News recently (amongst other developer luminaries) and revealed his desire to get back into game development, after he announced his resignation last year from massively multiplayer online game developer, NCsoft. Garriott said:

“After 25 years at Origin, the last thing I wanted to make was yet another medieval fantasy game. Now, after a very interesting break, I’m keen to get back into the fray and work on a new game. Probably medieval fantasy and probably online; there’s something very powerful about getting people together.”

Garriott, you’ll remember, spent almost two weeks in space aboard the International Space Station orbiting Earth. Upon his return, he announced his resignation from the troubled NCsoft. Two weeks later it was announced that the last game Garriott worked on, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, would be shut down on February 28th of this year.

His continued interest in space and his resignation fuelled speculation that Garriott was to move on to other ventures, but this latest announcement has confirmed his continuing desire to work in the space of game development. Good for him!