In the annals of PC role-playing games, few names carry as much weight as Richard Garriott and Brian Fargo.
Garriott—better known in-game as Lord British—created the Ultima series, which began with Ultima I in 1981 and helped establish modern CRPG design.
He co-founded Origin Systems in 1983, a studio that published genre-defining titles such as Wing Commander and acted as publisher for other landmark PC projects.
Fargo founded Interplay Productions in 1983, a company behind releases including The Bard's Tale (1985), Wasteland (1988), and later Stonekeep (1995).
Fargo left Interplay and founded inXile Entertainment in 2002, where he produced games including Torment: Tides of Numenera (2017) and Wasteland sequels, continuing his long influence on tabletop-inspired RPG design.
In April 2024, Fargo reflected on archival journals and early industry dealings in social posts that revisited a near-collision of two development paths.
He said he had been reading journals from 1983 and recounted an episode from October 1987 in which he attempted to bring Robert Garriott and Interplay into a collaborative RPG effort; the discussion reportedly included a suggestion of a company merger.
Fargo also acknowledged that, at the time, he feared losing creative control even as he very much wanted to work with Richard Garriott.
Paraphrasing Fargo's later sentiment, he indicated that the door to collaboration was not necessarily closed, expressing a continued openness to future cooperation between the veterans.
Garriott has remained active in games development: his crowdfunded Ultima spiritual successor, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, reached release in 2018.
Garriott is also noted for his 2008 trip to space as a private astronaut, an often-cited milestone in his public biography.
Both creators' careers illustrate how 1980s PC origins shaped later industry practices and indie revivals.
Today, many retro-inspired and crowdfunded RPGs find commercial homes on modern platforms and digital storefronts such as the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo eShop, and announcements for such projects occasionally appear during showcases like Nintendo Direct.
While the specific Fargo–Garriott merger never came to pass, their separate legacies continue to influence contemporary RPG design and platform strategies.
Garriott—better known in-game as Lord British—created the Ultima series, which began with Ultima I in 1981 and helped establish modern CRPG design.
He co-founded Origin Systems in 1983, a studio that published genre-defining titles such as Wing Commander and acted as publisher for other landmark PC projects.
Fargo founded Interplay Productions in 1983, a company behind releases including The Bard's Tale (1985), Wasteland (1988), and later Stonekeep (1995).
Fargo left Interplay and founded inXile Entertainment in 2002, where he produced games including Torment: Tides of Numenera (2017) and Wasteland sequels, continuing his long influence on tabletop-inspired RPG design.
In April 2024, Fargo reflected on archival journals and early industry dealings in social posts that revisited a near-collision of two development paths.
He said he had been reading journals from 1983 and recounted an episode from October 1987 in which he attempted to bring Robert Garriott and Interplay into a collaborative RPG effort; the discussion reportedly included a suggestion of a company merger.
Fargo also acknowledged that, at the time, he feared losing creative control even as he very much wanted to work with Richard Garriott.
Paraphrasing Fargo's later sentiment, he indicated that the door to collaboration was not necessarily closed, expressing a continued openness to future cooperation between the veterans.
Garriott has remained active in games development: his crowdfunded Ultima spiritual successor, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, reached release in 2018.
Garriott is also noted for his 2008 trip to space as a private astronaut, an often-cited milestone in his public biography.
Both creators' careers illustrate how 1980s PC origins shaped later industry practices and indie revivals.
Today, many retro-inspired and crowdfunded RPGs find commercial homes on modern platforms and digital storefronts such as the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo eShop, and announcements for such projects occasionally appear during showcases like Nintendo Direct.
While the specific Fargo–Garriott merger never came to pass, their separate legacies continue to influence contemporary RPG design and platform strategies.
