‘Ultima’ Creator Richard Garriott’s Kickstarter Campaign A Success

Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima, was successful in his Kickstarter fundraiser.

What was Richard Garriott raising money for, you ask? His ultimate RPG Shroud of the Avatar has raised over $1.9 million, nearly double the original goal, and is set for an October 2014 release.

Richard Garriott is the man who created the mega successful RPG series Ultima back when the biggest competitors were The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy. Richard Garriott has always had the quirk of putting himself in the games he makes as a King, calling himself “Lord British.”

As for Final Fantasy, it is worth knowing that in the US, we have not seen every game in the series, and certain sequels were omitted. This made it necessary to renumber the games we saw in the US. The sequel numbering went back to normal with Final Fantasy VII.

Getting back to the spiritual successor to Ultima, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is being called the ultimate RPG. The Ultima successor is a videogame that Richard Garriott hopes will revolutionize the genre like Final Fantasy VII and relative newcomer The Elder Scrolls.

Developer Portalarium, seeing the contributions of over 22,000 backers, wrote on its Kickstarter blog, “A sincere thank you goes out to all our backers for pledging your support to ‘Shroud of the Avatar‘ and helping us raise almost double our Kickstarter goal. This game would not be possible without your dedication and feedback — what a fantastic experience it’s been to interact with all of you, learning what is most important and desired in our new world.”

Considering the nature of how Shroud of the Avatar was conceived, we think it would be a great fit for the Android based Ouya, with its “for gamers, by gamers” mentality. It could easily make Ouya a must-buy console for PC gamers.

Richard Garriott’s ultimate RPGShroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is planned as the first of five games for PC.

How do you feel about the upcoming Ultima successor Shroud of the Avatar?