The creator of the Ultima series and the former CEO of NCsoft Austin is finally coming back to the game industry after leaving NCsoft back in 2008 to pursue his spaceflight interests (although he later noted that he was forced out and never intended to leave). Following "a two-year hiatus to travel to the International Space Station, work on a film documentary, ignite a personal rapid transit initiative, and wrap up post-flight experiments and speaking engagements," Richard Garriott has now announced a social media company called Portalarium.
The Austin-based company will kick off with online game apps, but Portalarium is looking to affect many industries, not just gaming. The company has "a broad-based, open-social mission that will also see it expanding into content that includes open learning, open health, open science/environment, open government and much more, all wrapped in a connective virtual world in the online social networking space."
Portalarium's first product is a new cross-platform web browser plug-in that enables games developed on a wide variety of game engines and technologies (besides just Adobe Flash) "to run seamlessly inside of the major popular social networks." This Portalarium Player is now in limited beta testing as a Windows PC app on Facebook and is running Portlarium’s first published title, a Texas hold ‘em card game called Sweet @$! Poker. Officials also said it supports all major Internet browsers and is in development to run within MySpace and other social networks, as well as on Macintosh and on mobile devices such as iPhone and Android.
“The Portalarium mission is exactly what I want to be doing next in games,” said Garriott, who will serve as VP and creative director. “This really takes me back to my roots in the game business – small development teams, low barriers to entry, affordable budgets for quality projects, and unlimited new interactive frontiers to explore together with our customers.”
Joining Garriott at his new venture are co-founders Dallas Snell (chairman and development director) and Fred Schmidt (CEO and publishing director). Both had worked together with Garriott as executives at ORIGIN Systems, Electronic Arts and, most recently, NCsoft. Also joining Garriott as VP and technical director for Portalarium is Stephen Nichols, who has 17 years of online game industry experience, most recently as producer and lead programmer of NCsoft’s Dungeon Runners.
Officials added, "The inspiration for Portalarium comes from all four co-founders’ wide ranging personal and professional interests in entertainment, technology, learning, science, sociology, politics and community activism. As such, the company has been created on a core set of human principles and values that will not only make it a magnet for top talent to join in the fun, but also will see Portalarium building in a very purposeful social consciousness orientation to help reduce global suffering and make a difference in the world. Together with its player community, the company will be raising money and promoting real-world activities in support of enlightened social causes. More on that to come later in the year when details on its virtual world are released."
