Project Lore

MythWare, BioIc, thicWare, BioMyth?

Have you heard the news?  Electronic Arts is merging Mythic Entertainment, maker of Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, with BioWare, creator of Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.  EA's announcement, first officially confirmed by Mythic, followed another huge announcement in the video game industry, the purchase of id Software by ZeniMax (the parent company of Bethesda Softworks and Game Studios).  After nothing since E3, the pair of announcements on the same day caught everyone off guard.

EA's bombshell was short on details, but here is what we know:

• The "studio group" is still unnamed.


• BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka is now the Group General Manager.


• BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer.


• Mark Jacobs, former GM/VP/CEO of Mythic, will be leaving EA.

The Mythic/BioWare merger isn't exactly surprising, specifically because it makes business sense to have the developers of MMOGs close together.  On top of better using one's resources, there is also that little issue with Warhammer Online, it simply didn't meet Mark Jacobs' standards for success, 500,000 subscribers and no server mergers.  EA last stated that WAR was around 300,000 and Mythic has already merged servers.  Thus, as part of the on-going restructuring at Electronic Arts, the company has smashed Mythic and BioWare into a “MMO/RPG studio group.”

The brevity of the announcement has left me with a few questions:

• Was Mark Jacobs axed for his title's, he was Lead Designer after all, shortcomings, or did he walk?


• Will WAR's post-launch development be hampered by Jacobs loss, or the merger?


• Is BioWare going to take any advice from Mythic, who is far more experienced at MMO developing, or go it alone?  Will they have any impact on SW:TOR?


• Any chance the merger will hinder the development of BioWare's RPGs, Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age: Origins?


• Does the select wording of the new entity, studio group, mean there will be no further layoffs at Mythic?  Perhaps just a new management chain?

Here are my expectations in short; he was likely asked to leave due to the "failure" of WAR and development will continue per usual in the short term. BioWare would be stupid to ignore launch advice and community ideas from Mythic and the company's RPG titles will be unaltered by the merger.  No further layoffs, just a change at the top.

From following Mark Jacobs' career at Mythic I would speculate that his departure was a little from column A and a little from column B.  The man played nearly every roll in his formerly small company, which would lead one to believe that he's a workaholic perfectionist and likely a control freak, for better or for worse.  For someone like that selling his company to Electronic Arts must have been difficult, and merging with another developer would be impossible.  So with that in mind, and the sluggish adoption of WAR, Mark likely took an offer to walk out.  Knowing that one of the studio heads, himself, Muzyka or Zeschuk , would be demoted or asked to leave, the choice was probably easy.  No matter which way it went down, we'll likely never know, I wish Mark all the best and thank him for his contributions to the video game industry as they stand.

This is by no means at the level of the "Another One Bites The Dust" column, but it is still huge, far reaching industry news.  Are there any other questions that you feel have been left unanswered?  What do you think the company should be called?  Could the move actually make WAR better?

For the FPS/RPG fans out there, id Software has detailed exactly why they sold out.  Now for a little bromance; I love John Carmack.  He's clear and concise when discussing business or pleasure, which to him is building unheard of technology, without being arrogant or coating his statements in sugary PR lingo.  Quite possibly, the coolest uber nerd ever. <3

Not to be outdone by a simple WoW blogger, John Romero also chimed in with his thoughts on id.

Note: EA responded to the departure of Jacobs this morning.  A spokesperson for EA stated that Jacobs is "a visionary thinker, and one of the pioneers in online gaming and is, at heart, an entrepreneur."  Sounds amiable enough.