Stock options prompt Garriott - NCsoft tussle
Designer says he was sacked while in quarantine
Having confirmed earlier today that he is to sue former employer NCsoft, Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott has released a statement explaining why he is taking on the MMO maker in the courts.
Word has it that North American president Chris Chung dismissed Garriott from the firm while he was still going through quarantine following his space trip late last year. According to the game designer, NCsoft then reclassified his departure as resignation rather than sacking.
This from the official documentation: "This mischaracterization had profound and detrimental effects on Mr. Garriott's stock options: if NCsoft terminated Mr. Garriott's employment (which it did) then the options - worth tens of millions of dollars - would remain in effect until 2011; but if Mr. Garriott resigned voluntarily (which he did not), then NCsoft might have terminated those options... within ninety days of his departure...
"NCsoft forced Mr. Garriott into a Hobson's choice of exercising his options... and forced him to sell into one of the worst equity markets in modern history..."
Apparently it is the debate over the nature of Garriott's departure, and the impact upon the designer's share options, which have sparked this 24 million USD lawsuit - now filed in Texas. More soon.
Source: GamePolitics
