EA Shuts Down Mythic Entertainment

[Morreion]

Mythic closes, 'end of an era' for former MMO studio (Massively)

We saw this coming, but it doesn't make it any less regrettable: Long-time MMO studio Mythic Entertainment has been shut down by EA.

"We are closing the EA Mythic location in Fairfax, Virginia, as we concentrate mobile development in our other studio locations. We are working with all impacted employees to provide assistance in finding new opportunities, either within EA or with other companies via an upcoming job fair," EA told Kotaku.

Former Mythic lead Josh Drescher tweeted his reaction to the news: "Condolences to everyone at Mythic today. It's the end of an era, but you were all part of something amazing."

Mythic shuttered Warhammer Online last December, while Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and many Mythic developers moved over to Broadsword Online Games this past February.

EA shuts down Mythic Entertainment (Gamasutra)

It is unclear how many staffers were affected. EA's spokesperson said it is company policy not to disclose headcount for studios or teams.

Mythic Entertainment released the early 2000s MMO hit Dark Age of Camelot; EA acquired the studio in 2006, as it worked on Warhammer Online. That game shut down late last year.

Most recently, the studio had developed mobile titles for EA, including Ultima Forever and Dungeon Keeper -- the latter of which was highly controversial.

As well as Dark Age of Camelot, Mythic had also shepherded Ultima Online after EA shuttered its original developer, Origin. Those games' maintenance was passed on to Mythic co-founder Rob Denton's Broadsword Online Games this February. Service for Dungeon Keeper will be transitioning to another team, EA's spokesperson confirmed.

Former Mythic boss eulogises the fallen Warhammer studio (Eurogamer)

Upon yesterday's news of Mythic shutting down, former studio boss Mark Jacobs offered Eurogamer the following parting words detailing the company's rise and fall.

For the last 24 hours, I've been pretty consumed with the news: the studio I co-founded is being shut down by EA. What I hope people remember, and what I've been focusing on since yesterday, are not the games of Mythic, but rather the teams that made them.

There was the first team, or "old" Mythic. About a dozen folks made online games from 1995 to 1999, when online games had gone from an afterthought in the games industry (MUD? What's a MUD?), to the "next big thing," and then back again to a niche market...

Then there was the second team, about two dozen folks who, in 18 months and on time and on budget, created what I and many people consider the best RvR-centric MMORPG to date: Dark Age of Camelot. This team poured everything they had into making this game, and even though we were rejected by every publisher we approached save one, Vivendi Universal Games (thank you, as always), they never lost faith. It was truly a team effort. Nobody, not even me, can or should claim all the credit for creating that landmark game. They did everything that was asked of them, and while I generally eschew clichés, they gave 110 per cent to make that game happen. When it succeeded, they shared in its success and bounty.

Then there was the third team, the team that created Warhammer. Many of them came from the team that was making Imperator and were moved to WAR. In only three years, and with crunches that were even worse than during the Dark Age of Camelot development cycle, they created a terrific, albeit flawed, MMORPG. Through their efforts, new words and phrases such as "Public Quests" entered the MMORPG lexicon, and I hope that WAR will be remembered not just for its flaws but for its glory as well. The flaws were not of their making. As I've said before, the flaws and premature release rested with senior management (including myself) at both Mythic and EA but ultimately, members of that team paid the price. It was for those reasons, among others, that I insisted that Mythic co-founder Robert Denton and I tried to speak to every member of the team that was laid off one-on-one or in small groups to thank them for their efforts and to apologise for the layoffs.

That's what I have been focusing on for the last 24 hours. Mythic Entertainment was more than any individual or game. It was made up of incredibly hard-working men and women who always did what they were asked. As a team, they never wavered in their commitment to making great games. I hope that if this is indeed the end of Mythic Entertainment, people don't forget the teams that worked so hard and treated their jobs as seriously and professionally as anybody could have wished. I will always remain incredibly proud of them all.

[Laethaka]

Nobody, not even me, can or should claim all the credit for creating that landmark game.

not even I*


ugh, I was hoping when Mythic got axed all the DAoC & WAR rights would magically revert to MJ and he would reach out to the Uthgard guys and.... something. Ah well, nice to see he still takes responsibility for WAR. Must be hard.

[Morreion]

This is a tragedy when you look back and see how well DAoC did back in 2001. WAR's failure tore Mythic apart. Shows that you can have a big hit and then fail.

Wonder how long Bioware will last with EA in charge now...

[Regolyth]

I hope this sets as a reminder to smaller companies what happens when you let large ones buy your property. They'll give you lots of money, sure, but then they'll change your game's very foundation, milk it for all it's worth, then discard it as if it never existed.

As I've said before, the flaws and premature release rested with senior management (including myself) at both Mythic and EA but ultimately, members of that team paid the price. It was for those reasons, among others, that I insisted that Mythic co-founder Robert Denton and I tried to speak to every member of the team that was laid off one-on-one or in small groups to thank them for their efforts and to apologise for the layoffs.

I love MBJ. He's always been one of my favorite developers.

[Morreion]

The Daily Grind: What was your favorite Mythic memory? (Massively)

So what was your favorite memory involving a Mythic game, the studio, or the dev team? Let's raise a virtual glass and give a fond toast to yesterday's tales.


That's a hard one, seeing I have lots of great memories from DAoC. Here's one.

I was in a Master level 4 raid one night, and we wrapped up sort of late, as in after midnight. It was a work night, but several people wanted to do a pickup Master Level 2 raid! Me and another guy led it, and by the time we were done and the loot was distributed, it was after 5 AM. I ended up sleeping for an hour and going to work. Those were the days, when I could do that, when I WANTED to do that, and when there were lots of good people to play with that made crazy things like that doable.

Thanks, Mythic!

[dortmunder]

I used to run the lower level battlegrounds in DAoC a lot, Thid, Cale, whatever the other ones were called

The only way to stay in them was to suicide over and over to lose XP. So I used to park my Bard up at the top of the keep(Druim Ligen?) and just jump my battlegrounds chars off it over and over.

Would get so many concerned messages from other players "Are you OK!?".

Lots of different memories I loved about that game. Like running Finliath groups for 2-4 days straight with lists of names of the next in line. Sending a tell to someone 10+ hours later telling them their spot is up. And their respsonse is like "What? That was last night, I went to bed".

[Laethaka]

Jun 18, 2014 17:58:45 GMT -5 dortmunder said:

running Finliath groups for 2-4 days straight with lists of names of the next in line. Sending a tell to someone 10+ hours later telling them their spot is up. And their respsonse is like "What? That was last night, I went to bed".

somewhere in this world on the internet or a harddrive I have a screenshot of two full groups on opposite sides of wall fins alternating pulls. That Cursed Forest zone was so creepy. Too dangerous to explore- everyone knew the landmarks to get to river fins, log fins, or wall fins- beyond that, or get lost, uh ohhh...

[Morreion]

Oh man, good memories. The Cursed Forest was very scary!

Fins Groups in DAoC, 2003

[Regolyth]

Jun 18, 2014 17:58:45 GMT -5 dortmunder said:

Like running Finliath groups for 2-4 days straight with lists of names of the next in line. Sending a tell to someone 10+ hours later telling them their spot is up. And their respsonse is like "What? That was last night, I went to bed".

Hah! I remember doing the same thing when I was running a Fins group. I guess that happened a lot.

Some of my favorite memories include running three characters at a fins group (the PBAoE Enchanter, the Druid bot/healer and my bot). I met a lot of interesting people that way. My first 50, Regolyth the Ranger, got his last six levels in Fins. Talk about out of place!

Another good memory is leading groups of Hibs around in Caledonia on my Ranger, racking up the RPs. I also have fond memories of playing for such long periods of time, that I would play with someone, see them log off for bed, then see them log back on and play with them again in the morning. DAoC really had me addicted. Sad/proud to say, I would play 12+ hours a day easy while in college.

Lastly, I remember running a 12 hour ML2 raid. I was determined to get it finished, both for myself and friends. Somewhere around half way through the raid I developed a migraine. By the time we were at Runi, I was in serious pain. However, with the help of a few friends, I was able to finish up the raid, gave the loot to a trusted friend to divide, and went to bed. That was dedication. It was when MLs took a while to finish too. Later on I could run an entire ML2 raid in about an hour. Things really changed.