BioWare and Mythic Combine to Form New EA 'RPG/MMO Studio Group' as WAR Lead Leaves

by Chris Faylor, Jun 24, 2009 10:06am PDT

Related Topics – BioWare, Electronic Arts, PC

Electronic Arts subsidiaries BioWare (Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Old Republic) and Mythic Entertainment (Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online) are to be combined into a new "studio group" led by BioWare co-founder and general manager Ray Muzyka.

Mythic revealed the restructuring today on its official website, with BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk serving as chief creative officer of the new group and Mythic co-founder Rob Denton now acting as general manager of the Mythic division. Denton will report to group general manager Muzyka, and BioWare's studios "remain unchanged."

Denton replaces previous Mythic general manager, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning lead designer, and fellow co-founder Mark Jacobs. The studio revealed that Jacob's last day at the EA-owned studio was yesterday, June 23, noting that "we thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward."

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10 Threads | 53 Comments

#53

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By: Shin_Chan72 x Show Full Post

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Glad someone at EA finally realized Jacobs helped make WAR be far less successful than it should have been , from his rants on the closed beta boards and decisions like not having official forums (until someone at EA obviously overruled him) , he was more hot air than anything.

Jun 25, 2009 5:47am PDT

Glad someone at EA finally realized Jacobs helped make WAR be far less successful than it should have bee... : Shin_Chan72

#16

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By: Funeraldirge x Show Full Post

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Maybe bioware can talk them into not making another MMO with brown leather armor, swords, trolls elves and magic. Why is American fantasy so ugly?

Jun 24, 2009 11:30am PDT

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Maybe bioware can talk them into not making another MMO with brown leather armor, swords, trolls elves an... : Funeraldirge
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  Wait, since when was drab colour palettes a hallmark of American fantasy? What about WoW? : Arceihn
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    fyi originally blizard is a canadian company. : italiano3d
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      Blizzard was never Canadian. Bioware was always Canadian. : Kentor
      
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      Um, I don't know if you've been living under a fucking rock or something but Bioware was started in Italy... : Porkasaurus
      
      lol wot? it was started in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Grow a clue. : ev0ljon
      
      Best LOL for me today! : Derek French
      
      blizzard north was never canadian? well shit. my bad? : italiano3d
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    I don't think I mentioned drab colors. it worked well in morrowind. I', talking about the overall aesthet... : Funeraldirge
    - Trolls are supposed to be ugly. And Elves and +4 Magic Capes are ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL, by definition. : AxeMan808
- It wouldn't hurt them to be a little more imaginative with the designs. : natepalm

#10

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By: badcaps x Show Full Post

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If someone could explain to me how this would be bad news, I'd love to hear it. Mythic was a plucky upstart with great talent but limited resources. DAoC was an absolutely amazing MMO and the effort they put into it was obvious in the result, but the market was different: it was smaller. WoW changed the MMO market and I think, in that context, Mythic really benefited from their relationship with EA by helping to level the playing field monetarily. I wonder how much better the game could have been had their team been larger and more capable, i.e. if EA had bought Mythic sooner?

As far as I'm concerned there was no better PVP between UO and right now than there was in DAoC; to a certain degree, WAR continued that tradition. I would love to see Mythic's design principles continued in new games, and perhaps influence BioWare in that direction also.

Jun 24, 2009 11:01am PDT

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If someone could explain to me how this would be bad news, I'd love to hear it. Mythic was a plucky upst... : badcaps
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#37

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By: tidic x Show Full Post

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Dammit, where was all the money to buy talented teams of RPG writers when Troika folded? Western RPG devs seems to be huddling together in more and more smaller numbers it seems.

The cynic in me feels that after EA digested Origin as a starter, Mythic has been doomed to become a side dish to the Bioware platter.

....And I'm still bitter about UO2...

Jun 24, 2009 2:14pm PDT

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Dammit, where was all the money to buy talented teams of RPG writers when Troika folded? Western RPG devs... : tidic
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.

#46

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By: TheGamer11 x Show Full Post

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EA-MMO BIG!
ITS ONLINE!

Jun 24, 2009 5:42pm PDT

EA-MMO BIG! ITS ONLINE! : TheGamer11

#32

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By: TigerRei x Show Full Post

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Here's to hoping that we might see Imperator return.

Jun 24, 2009 12:56pm PDT

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Here's to hoping that we might see Imperator return. : TigerRei
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  You serious? That sounded like shit the first time I heard it. Romans in space? Time for Dark Age of C... : erebus
  - Perhaps, but we all thought another game about dwarves and elves would suck after living with Everquest, ... : TigerRei

#3

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By: Snake&Crane x Show Full Post

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Ever since EA's acquisition of Mythic, the company has been losing most of it's original staff.
I wonder if WAR would have been more popular if EA was never involved...
I liked it until I discovered the oh-so-lame-endgame. Then they made a bunch of changes that promote grinding and now I have no desire to play anymore.

Jun 24, 2009 10:27am PDT

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Ever since EA's acquisition of Mythic, the company has been losing most of it's original staff. I wonder... : Snake&Crane
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#2

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By: ckozlowski x Show Full Post

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Vader: The Emperor is most displeased with your lack of progress
BioWare: We shall double our efforts!
<summon Mythic>

In all seriousness though, this is somewhat disconcerting...

Jun 24, 2009 10:19am PDT

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Vader: The Emperor is most displeased with your lack of progress BioWare: We shall double our efforts! ... : ckozlowski
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  More like the Emperor is displeased with the lack of hype around Dragon Age. Mass Effect 2 and The Old... : battlehardenedbeaver
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    It's not really any more generic or derivative than anything else BioWare has ever done. : Arceihn
    - Bioware jumped the shark a while back, it's just not the studio it once was. : Visceral Monkey
  - I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry for a new RPG. Fallout 3 is helping with it’s DLC, but there... : Petebot330

#6

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By: dantastic x Show Full Post

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so how will this affect the mass effect trilogy?

Jun 24, 2009 10:45am PDT

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so how will this affect the mass effect trilogy? : dantastic
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- not at all : Ras668
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  I'm pretty sure that this won't adversely affect any products. If anything it'll help the two teams reach... : ateam311
  - wasn't that the line fed when mythic was purchased concerning their uo team? : JuffoWup

#1

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By: spiderfill x Show Full Post

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the doctor is in please make star wars good

Jun 24, 2009 10:13am PDT

the doctor is in please make star wars good : spiderfill

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