The company was founded in 1983 by brothers Robert and Richard Garriott, their father Owen and Chuck "Chuckles" Bueche to publish the third part in Richard's Ultima series, Exodus. In 1992, the company was acquired by Electronic Arts.
After the success of the MMORPG Ultima Online (released in 1997), EA decided that Origin would become an online-only company after the completion of Ultima IX.
Origin mainly exists to support and expand Ultima Online and to develop further online games based on the Ultima franchise like Ultima X: Odyssey, to be released in 2004.