Recently returned from his little space travel, Tabula Rasa creator Richard Garriott (aka Lord British) had a few unpleasant surprises: first, a huge drop in the retail price of Tabula Rasa to $1 then some alarmingly low financial results from publishing company NCSoft. So he decided to quit the Korean publishers.

So… if I was wondering last week how bad is it, financially-wise, for the company, now I have the answer: very! A 50 percent drop in profits last quarter, to be more specific, and just 2 percent of the income brought in by Tabula Rasa. So not at all encouraging.

However, Garriott says that these low figures have nothing to do with his decision to leave NCSoft, but his recent travel to space: “”Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space,” Garriott said in an open letter. “Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.”

Lord British did not go on with detailing his plans for the future but, if you remember, something similar happened some time ago when Oliver Collyer went on a two years long trip and returned with the great idea to create Football Manager Live. So if something similar happened to Lord British following his space travel spell, it’s all for the good of gaming!