EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
Mythic announced this morning that it's parent company Electronic Arts is restructuring the MMO company and it's sister studio BioWare into a new group devoted to RPG and MMO development. Press release from the <a href="http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=841">Warhammer Herald</a>:
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Today we have important news to share with the community. EA is restructuring its RPG and MMO games development into a new group that includes both Mythic and BioWare. This newly formed team will be led by Ray Muzyka, co-founder and General Manager of BioWare. With this change, Ray becomes Group General Manager of the new RPG/MMO studio group. BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer for the new RPG/MMO studio group. Rob Denton will step up as General Manager of Mythic and report to Ray. BioWare’s studios remain unchanged and continue to report to Ray.
Mark Jacobs, current General Manager of Mythic will leave EA on June 23, 2009. We thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward. Mark played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.
Mythic retains a strong team led by Rob who co-founded Mythic in 1995. Rob played a critical role in the development of Dark Age of Camelot. In his previous role as COO, he was responsible for all day-to-day management of the studio including all development, operations and support.
Please join us in celebrating the union of these two award-winning studios.
Considering BioWare's leap into the MMO arena with Star Wars: The Old Republic this isn't terribly surprising, but the idea of Mythic and BioWare working together is a pretty exciting prospect indeed.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
sounds good, i jsut hope they release a good PvE game, i am tired of every game being PvP centric, why cant we have a good a'ole PvE raid game like EQ was....
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
If it is good ol' like EQ was, I'm in. But I haven't had that much fun in a PvE game since. Also l2pvp :)
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Abaci
If it is good ol' like EQ was, I'm in. But I haven't had that much fun in a PvE game since. Also l2pvp :)
sorry pvp isn't for me, it is ok every once in awhile, but games like WHO are to PvP centric for me...
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
Outside of the RvR subgenre I'm not a big PvP fan myself. Of course, I've never particularly enjoyed PvE raiding or any of that nonsense either. I love exploring and playing with friends. The world needs another decent sandbox MMO. We haven't had a great sandbox experience since Ultima Online (and to a somewhat lesser degree the original SWG.)
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Okaria
Outside of the RvR subgenre I'm not a big PvP fan myself. Of course, I've never particularly enjoyed PvE raiding or any of that nonsense either. I love exploring and playing with friends. The world needs another decent sandbox MMO. We haven't had a great sandbox experience since Ultima Online (and to a somewhat lesser degree the original SWG.)
A to the ****in' xie ren, Okaria. Although I do enjoy the dungeon crawling stuff like in DDO (Join Us).
And some of that exploration awesomeness too.
And sorry for missing you last night, Dragonmonk, I kinda spazed out earler that day and my eyes were hurting and whatnot. Thankfully summer school's out in few days so I'll have 5 weeks to pretend I'm a magic robot/ stabby human (Stabby McStabpants if you will) with you and your wife who I'm sure is looking over your shoulder to catch us cybe- fooled you for a second didn't I Mrs. Dragonmonk?
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
Oh I'm with you Okaria, RvR is the PvP I like. I'll do Guild v. Guild type stuff too, open PvP is pretty lame.
And yes 100% sandbox MMOs. Explore, play, chat with friends. Why does something so simple not exist anymore? If I ever get my gaming company off the ground, I will deliver one.
Aaand...sigh, maybe I will check out DDO. See what my girlfriend thinks of it first.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Abaci
Oh I'm with you Okaria, RvR is the PvP I like. I'll do Guild v. Guild type stuff too, open PvP is pretty lame.
And yes 100% sandbox MMOs. Explore, play, chat with friends. Why does something so simple not exist anymore? If I ever get my gaming company off the ground, I will deliver one.
Aaand...sigh, maybe I will check out DDO. See what my girlfriend thinks of it first.
Be sure to tell her about the "Khyber Dragonshards." Chicks dig them.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Okaria
Considering BioWare's leap into the MMO arena with Star Wars: The Old Republic this isn't terribly surprising, but the idea of Mythic and BioWare working together is a pretty exciting prospect indeed.
I think it's really more of a top-level organizational thing then anything else. So I doubt there'll be any significant cross pollination... well no more then before anyway. Look at me using big words! :p
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Arrqh
I think it's really more of a top-level organizational thing then anything else. So I doubt there'll be any significant cross pollination... well no more then before anyway. Look at me using big words! :p
Hard to say at this point, but dropping Jacobs (who let's face it was the heart and soul of Mythic) and putting a BioWare co-founder at the helm of the studio feels like a pretty dramatic vision change to me
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
Well as long as the release of their new MMO(s) isn't too affected by the (possible) pole shift in 2012, t should do rather well.
note my ____________. Indeed.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Okaria
Hard to say at this point, but dropping Jacobs (who let's face it was the heart and soul of Mythic) and putting a BioWare co-founder at the helm of the studio feels like a pretty dramatic vision change to me
On a top level maybe, but on a normal day to day level Mythic, Bioware Austin, Edmonton and Montreal are still running exactly as they were before. The only real difference is instead of Bioware and Mythic both reporting directly to EAGL, the two are now both reporting to Ray who in turn is reporting to EAGL. Someone from Mythic also said this today:
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"We're still Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Studio, as we have been. I've posted this elsewhere, but we're not 'merging.' We are still a completely separate entity within EA, just as Bioware is, simply now grouped under the same MMO/RPG grouping and reporting to one person, collectively."
Granted, I'm sure dropping Jacobs will change things a bit at Mythic... but it's not like Mythic is going to be working on TOR now or anything. BWA and Mythic are as separate as they always were (which is to say, two separate studios owned by EA).
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
From what I've read, it actually seems like Jacobs left on his own. He was on sabbatical for over a month and then they reported that he wasn't returning.
Either way, I'm excited about the new reorganization. I'm hoping it will be what TOR needs to make it a great game.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Arrqh
On a top level maybe, but on a normal day to day level Mythic, Bioware Austin, Edmonton and Montreal are still running exactly as they were before. The only real difference is instead of Bioware and Mythic both reporting directly to EAGL, the two are now both reporting to Ray who in turn is reporting to EAGL. Someone from Mythic also said
this today:
Granted, I'm sure dropping Jacobs will change things a bit at Mythic... but it's not like Mythic is going to be working on TOR now or anything. BWA and Mythic are as separate as they always were (which is to say, two separate studios owned by EA).
I don't believe I ever implied they were merging studios, and I'm well aware that Jacobs didn't call all the shots for Mythic since EA purchased them, I think that goes pretty much without saying. That doesn't change the fact that Jacobs cofounded the studio, and was it's creative leader for much of that time. Putting a Bioware exec in his place will obviously have a change on how Mythic does things, regardless of who the studio reports to. That was the point of EA doing it in the first place.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
Hey, maybe Mythic can help Bioware license the WAR's game engine! *facepalm*
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Okaria
Hard to say at this point, but dropping Jacobs (who let's face it was the heart and soul of Mythic) and putting a BioWare co-founder at the helm of the studio feels like a pretty dramatic vision change to me
Seems like EA wasn't too happy with the way Mythic has been handling things, not surprising considering the expectations for warhammer and the actual outcome.
I just hope Bioware doesn't get screwed by this. I personally love all of Bioware's games, can't say I have any love for Mythic.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
Baldur
Seems like EA wasn't too happy with the way Mythic has been handling things, not surprising considering the expectations for warhammer and the actual outcome.
I just hope Bioware doesn't get screwed by this. I personally love all of Bioware's games, can't say I have any love for Mythic.
EA's problems with WAR's outcome are more about EA's expectations in the online space than any actual short comings.
They just expect way too much. 250-500k is the natural AAA MMO sub rate - they need to budget and build teams around that level of revenue.
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
With 250k subscribers, you're looking at over $40 million in raw revenue. Yes there are substantial overhead costs, but WAR ought to be a money maker for EA in the long run unless they are woefully wasteful with their resources (entirely possible).
Re: EA restructuring Mythic and BioWare into RPG/MMO group
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Originally Posted by
noptov52
With 250k subscribers, you're looking at over $40 million in raw revenue. Yes there are substantial overhead costs, but WAR ought to be a money maker for EA in the long run unless they are woefully wasteful with their resources (entirely possible).
I know for a fact UO is still profitable with ~60-80k subs.
You don't need much to make money in this game :)
