EA Acquires Mythic

[Archon]

This just in!

Electronic Arts, the Redwood City-based developer and publisher of video games, said on Tuesday that it will acquire Virginia-based Mythic Entertainment, a publisher of online games, for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to be completed by September, when Mythic will become EA Mythic, a wholly owned studio dedicated to developing massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Mythic is the developer of the award-winning Dark Age of Camelot online game, and is currently developing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning under a licensing deal with Games Workshop. Mark Jacobs, the president and CEO of Mythic, will become the vice president and general manager of EA Mythic, while fellow co-founder Rob Denton will assume the role of the studio's vice president and COO.

I smell an Allen Varney article. "Conquest of Mythic" anyone?

 

[Archon]

Original Comment by: Cody K.

Is this a good? or a bad thing?

I?m fairly skeptical of larger companies buying smaller companies. I wonder what made Mythic sign with EA. Were they in financial trouble? In the case of Bungie, I think it hurt them from both a creative and variety standpoint. They are forever forced to build the next Halo. Seeing that Mythic is building Warhammer Online, I can only imagine that we?ll be seeing a billion sequels to Madden? er, I mean Warhammer Online. ;-)

 

[Archon]

Original Comment by: Pyrostasis
http://www.thedarkknights.com
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/45/3

EA is the destroyer of worlds...err virtual worlds

 

[Virgil]

I think the real question is if EA has learned from its past mistakes. I'm sure they see the obvious need to have a successful MMO in the face of competition from Vivendi, NCSoft, and Sony Online, and none of their attempts after UO, an accident in itself, have been remotely successful.

If Mythic gets access to the resources of EA but is allowed to retain some level of autonomy and creative control, this could be a big win for both companies. If, on the other hand, they simply get melded into the rest of EA like Origin and Westwood did, then nothing good will come of it.

Think about it though, if they could get one running successfully, an MMO is the perfect match for the EA model. Continual, incremental updates on a yearly or bi-yearly basis (expansion packs) along the regular minor bug fixing and content updates is their firte, and they aren't exactly known for skimping on production values for most of their titles either. The missing part is a successful MMO design, which they haven't managed to hit yet. but Mythic could provide.