We See Farther: A History of Electronic Arts

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Written by BuckGB on February 17th, 2007

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In 1992, Richard Garriott's Origin Systems joined the fold. The Austin-based studio would go on to develop new volumes in Garriott's Ultima and Chris Roberts' Wing Commander series as well as the groundbreaking Ultima Online. Other important games from Origin included Crusader, Privateer, and Warren Spector's System Shock. AH-64D Longbow, the first installment in the Jane's Combat Simulations series, was also developed at Origin.

Despite its successes, Origin had difficulty integrating with EA and in 1999, after the release of Ultima IX, Garriott left the company. Later, several of Origin's high-profile projects were canceled and the company was dissolved in 2004.

EA's next big acquisition came in 1995 when it purchased designer Peter Molyneux's UK studio, Bullfrog. Electronic Arts had previously published Bullfrog's Populous, Power Monger, Syndicate, Theme Park, and Magic Carpet games. As a division of Electronic Arts, Bullfrog went on to produce Dungeon Keeper and its sequel.

After spending time as a vice president of EA, Molyneux left in 1997 to form the independent Lionhead Studios. At Lionhead he created Black & White, which was published by EA in 2001. His old, studio Bullfrog, was eventually absorbed into EA UK in 2004.

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