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The company was founded in 1983 by brothers Robert and Richard Garriott ("Lord British"), their father Owen and Chuck "Chuckles" Bueche -- after Richard had terminated his contract with Sierra On-Line, Inc -- to publish the third part in Richard's Ultima series, Exodus: Ultima III. Chris Roberts, another OSI employee, created the original Wing Commander in 1990. In 1992, the company was acquired by Electronic Arts.
After the success of the MMORPG Ultima Online (released in 1997), EA decided that Origin would become an online-only company after the completion of Ultima IX.
Origin was the home of legendary game designer Andy Hollis from 1993 to 1999. Hollis retired for several years, but returned in 2003 and served as Executive Producer and COO.
In recent years, Origin mainly existed to support and expand Ultima Online and to develop further online games based on the Ultima franchise like Ultima X: Odyssey, to be released in 2004. In February 2004, the studio was disbanded by Electronic Arts.
Origin's motto was We create worlds.