Last week we reported that Richard "Lord British" Garriott, creator of Ultima and incredibly awesome rich guy, was selling his nerd-inspired house, Britannia Manor. Around the office, we were speculatiing as to whether Garriott was selling his crib because he was broke -- after all, it's not the best time to sell a house, given the real estate market being in the crapper. Turns out, Garriott will be fine financially. A three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $32 million judgment against MMO publisher NCSoft.
The background story of this lawsuit is absolutely amazing: Basically, When NCSoft bought Garriott's company, the contract said they didn't have to honor his stock options if he voluntarily left NCSoft. Garriott developed failed NCSoft MMO Tabula Rasa. Then Garriott decided to go into space with a Russian space tourism company.
Apparently, NCSoft interpreted Garriott leaving the entire planet as voluntarily terminating his employment. So they dropped him while he was in space quarantine -- guy went into space and was, basically, fired. Best. Job Loss. Ever.
Source: Gamasutra
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MasterOfWeed
Nexon America owns a good portion of this company so it's nice to see they lost some money for once.
KingGainerXan
I got fired from a job of 4-1/2 years for buying a van. I guess I'll have to cancel my trip into space....
Whiteaura1
Ugh .. NCsoft. dire imbeciles, i honestly hope their next few MMO's literally crash and burn, (not including GW2 because i like GW, more so because of Arena net, not NCsoft) but seriously.. if there was one money grabbing, twisted, unfair, and soiled company out there, it would be NCsoft.. :P
ThaSaltShaker
Hahaha... that's funny.
Apparently, NCSoft interpreted Garriott leaving the entire planet as voluntarily terminating his employment.
Great line.
Displaying 1–4 of 4