The once-happy business union of Ultima series creator Richard Garriott and Korea-based MMO publisher NCsoft turned vicious at its end, according to legal documents unearthed by GamePolitics, Richard Garriott is suing NCsoft for 27 million USD in damages.

Garriott, best known for the Ultima RPG series, alleges that he lost millions when NCsoft manipulated him into cashing out stock options earlier this year after firing him late in 2008. Garriott says that NCsoft publicly misconstrued his departure as a mutual agreement, violating a stock option agreement in the process.

The distinction in the designer's departure is key: if he was fired by NCsoft, his stock options would remain until June 2011, but if he left of his own accord, Garriott would have to exercise those options within 90 days of leaving, lest they be terminated by NCsoft. He asserts he was forced into the latter option, which made him take on thousands of dollars in taxes and fees and losing potential millions in stock value.

Garriott famously left on an excursion to space, (a leave of absence that NCsoft had approved) where he took the opportunity to promote his NCsoft title Tabula Rasa. Still, the suit alleges that NCsoft decided to part ways with him during his post-space flight quarantine in late October 2008. A statement was then issued by NCsoft portraying his departure as one of mutual concordance, which Garriott asserts was not the case.

Source:[GameDaily]