Gamelab 2017's Honor Award will go to Richard Garriott, as announced today by the event's organisation and picked up by VB. The British game designer, writer, entrepreneur, adventurer, and astronaut will receive the award during a presentation to be held on the second day of the three-day conference, on June 29 in Barcelona.
Gamelab director Iván Fernández-Lobo defines the pioneer as "a game-changer for the medium and a source of inspiration for anyone with a creative soul, even beyond the Industry limits."
Garriott is not only the creator of Ultima, one of the most influential RPG series of all time, but also the man behind companies such as Origin (now part of EA) and Destination Games (now part of NCsoft). He also co-founded Space Adventures which, as VB points out, is "the only company to arrange space flights for private citizens", while Garriott himself "is the sixth private astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station." Back to gaming, his dev team is still working on Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, described by them as "a new type of third person fantasy RPG" and at the same time a top-grossing crowdfunded MMORPG.
With this year's Honor Award Garriott joins the likes of Shinji Mikami (2015), Shuhei Yoshida (2014), Will Wright (2013), Kazunori Yamauchi (2012), and Hideo Kojima (2011).
Garriott will have a Q&A session at Gamelab 2017 too, and Gamelab will be held at Hesperia Tower Hotel in Barcelona between June 28 and 30. Tickets are available already and Gamereactor will once again provide special coverage and exclusive interviews.
Which is Garriott's best achievement?