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General: The End of an Era: EA Shutters Mythic

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
in News & Features Discussion

Mythic, the game studio behind Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online, is no more. EA has made the decision to shutter the Fairfax, Virginia office and is working with employees to help them find new positions.

Kotaku received the following response from EA regarding the closure:

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. 

Read more at the link above.

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


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Comments

  • AeonbladesAeonblades Member Posts: 2,083

    And there goes the best MMO development company ever made. In all fairness, this company was dead as soon as EA bought them.

     

    If EA owns it, it's going to lose money, be an abomination, or be closed down. BioWare is next on the list I think.

    Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
    Have played: You name it
    If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Wow. RIP Mythic

    image
  • ZeymereZeymere Member UncommonPosts: 210

    Not a surprise for lots of people I am guessing.  Still sad to see these types of things and people loose there job.

     

    R.I.P. Mythic Entertainment

    Others learn a lesson, don't sleep with the shark (EA) it will eat you when it gets hungry.

    Z.

  • WightyWighty Member UncommonPosts: 699
    EA is nothing more than a virus to quality game companies and developers.

    What are your other Hobbies?

    Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...

  • hammarushammarus Member UncommonPosts: 196
    Not surprised.  It is the way "capitalism" works today.  If you can't invent, create or design you buy and wipe out the competition.  Then you strip down the company you bought, take what you want and discard the husk.  At the same time you destroy the threat that a creative company poses to your company as a bonus.
  • logicbomb82logicbomb82 Member UncommonPosts: 228
    More people to work on Brad's Project incoming!
    I run the Mature Minded Gamers. We do video and board gaming videos and reviews. We also have a big Dungeons and Dragons community with multiple games active each week.
    Join us at: https://www.maturemindedgamers.com

  • Solar_ProphetSolar_Prophet Member EpicPosts: 1,960

    Well look at that. Yet another formerly high-quality development company killed off by the overly greedy fucks at EA. Just add 'em to the list with Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood Studios, Pandemic, Criterion, and all the other promising studios they've obliterated.

    If Dragon Age 3 doesn't meet sales expectations, Bioware will be next. No sense keeping the name around if it can't draw in the sales like it used to.

    AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!

    We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD. 

    #IStandWithVic

  • ZeymereZeymere Member UncommonPosts: 210

    I know Broadsword now holds UO and DAOC.  Are those titles unaffected?  I hope so.

     

    Z.

  • MarcelinoMarcelino Member UncommonPosts: 124
    So Sad :(
  • ChannceChannce Member CommonPosts: 570
    Originally posted by Solar_Prophet

    Well look at that. Yet another formerly high-quality development company killed off by the overly greedy fucks at EA. Just add 'em to the list with Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood Studios, Pandemic, Criterion, and all the other promising studios they've obliterated.

    If Dragon Age 3 doesn't meet sales expectations, Bioware will be next. No sense keeping the name around if it can't draw in the sales like it used to.

    whats the whole "greedy" argument? a business exists to make money, not insure people have jobs.  If you don't like the product or have something personal against the company, don't spend your dollars on it, pretty straight forward.

    When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.

  • Solar_ProphetSolar_Prophet Member EpicPosts: 1,960
    Originally posted by Channce
    Originally posted by Solar_Prophet

    Well look at that. Yet another formerly high-quality development company killed off by the overly greedy fucks at EA. Just add 'em to the list with Origin, Bullfrog, Westwood Studios, Pandemic, Criterion, and all the other promising studios they've obliterated.

    If Dragon Age 3 doesn't meet sales expectations, Bioware will be next. No sense keeping the name around if it can't draw in the sales like it used to.

    whats the whole "greedy" argument? a business exists to make money, not insure people have jobs.  If you don't like the product or have something personal against the company, don't spend your dollars on it, pretty straight forward.

    Whence the term 'overly greedy'. Greed can be a very good thing, and is in fact one of the main motivators for people / companies to innovate and produce quality good & services. There is a fine line there however, and when a company starts buying up reputable smaller companies and using their good name to sell as much crap product as possible before shutting it down, they've crossed it.

    In short, greed is good until you start screwing over your own employees and customers because of it.

    For the record, I don't buy EA's crap.

    AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!

    We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD. 

    #IStandWithVic

  • DathanKnightDathanKnight Member Posts: 16
    Oh, RIP Bullfrog.  To this day, Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2 are some of my all time favorite games.  I was disappointed about Mythic, but now I'm sad, too.
  • OmnifishOmnifish Member Posts: 616

    Mythic were stuffed the minute they took on too much with Warhammer Online and had to be bailed out by EA. A company that fucks up that badly is always going to end up this way.

    Not a popular view but that's what happened... 

    This looks like a job for....The Riviera Kid!

  • AeonbladesAeonblades Member Posts: 2,083
    Originally posted by Omnifish

    Mythic were stuffed the minute they took on too much with Warhammer Online and had to be bailed out by EA. A company that fucks up that badly is always going to end up this way.

    Not a popular view but that's what happened... 

    It's not a popular view because it's a lie. I think that it's pretty obvious that it was not the reason EA bought Mythic.

    Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
    Have played: You name it
    If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.

  • unclemounclemo Member UncommonPosts: 462
    We have Paul Barnett and Jeff Hickman to thank for this disaster. I will never give money to anything these idiots or EA touches. The real tragedy is how they screwed over Marc Jacobs. Camelot Unchained will be his vindication.
  • FelixMajorFelixMajor Member RarePosts: 865
    Haven't bought an EA game in at least 5 years. EA is garbage.

    Originally posted by Arskaaa
    "when players learned tacticks in dungeon/raids, its bread".

  • ThumbtackJThumbtackJ Member UncommonPosts: 669
    Mythic has been dead (or at the very least, a vegetable) since WAR:AoR came out. That said, I loved WAR's PvP and still think that WAR was one of, if not the most, wasted potential of an MMO ever.
  • KanethKaneth Member RarePosts: 2,286
    Hopefully Broadsword can take up the challenge of running DAoC properly. RIP Mythic, you were one of my favorites.
  • coorsguyscoorsguys Member Posts: 272
    Well I see there are a few here drinking the kool-aid...oh the "cool thing" is to hate on big bad companies!!!  Some pretty pathetic posters here.  Yeah they closed down a pile of crap that was dead a long time ago...Oh my they are so horrible...get a life some of you. 
  • FoomerangFoomerang Member UncommonPosts: 5,628

    DAoC RvR. That was it. Everything they made after that was like "Oh! its the guys who did DAoC, its gonna be sweet!" One turd after another until they are finally gone. The talented ones already left and are hooked up with nice jobs elsewhere.

  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919

    EA deserve credit imo.

    EA could have pulled the plug on DAoC. They didn't. A new studio, Broadsword Online Games, has been formed by Rob Denton & co.

    What the arrangement is with EA - no idea - but whether DAoC survives or not is up to Broadsword. 

    This may not be a popular view but EA haven't closed DAoC they've given it a chance.

  • sakersaker Member RarePosts: 1,458

    Originally posted by hammarus
    Not surprised.  It is the way "capitalism" works today.  If you can't invent, create or design you buy and wipe out the competition.  Then you strip down the company you bought, take what you want and discard the husk.  At the same time you destroy the threat that a creative company poses to your company as a bonus.

    Agree more victims of "merican"-style crony-capitalism.

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Ya... Mythic made one good MMO and then another pretty abysmal one that could have had potential. I really don't think EA was being the bad guy here.

    image
  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Originally posted by gervaise1

    EA deserve credit imo.

    EA could have pulled the plug on DAoC. They didn't. A new studio, Broadsword Online Games, has been formed by Rob Denton & co.

    What the arrangement is with EA - no idea - but whether DAoC survives or not is up to Broadsword. 

    This may not be a popular view but EA haven't closed DAoC they've given it a chance.

    Agreed! It would seem Mythic probably just had too much overhead costs to be worth holding onto to run two old MMOs.

    image
  • Yoda_CloneYoda_Clone Member Posts: 219

    Part of the problem with Mythic -- like many of the gaming studios -- is that it's in a high cost of living area.  Having lived in the vicinity of Fairfax, VA, I'm amazed that a game company would operate out of that location.  They would have been much better off paying the upfront costs of moving their emplyees to some area like Podunk, USA...

    The same is true of BioWare's offices in Austin...

    The margin on games (over the long term) is insufficient to sustain business in high cost of living areas.  Yet we continually see companies being formed in Silicon Valley (been there; done that), San Diego, and other high cost areas.

    Why?  Stupidity is the only reason I can come up with.

    The argument can be made that companies are formed where there is available talent, but that is a specious argument.  Given an appropriate relocation allowance, talent will move where you want them to go.  Tell someone that the cost of living is half of where they're at, and they'll leave the overpriced area quickly.

    I was never happier in my life than when I left Silicon Valley...  I sold my house in California and bought a house twice its size for cash where I'm at now.  Tell young talent that they can do that and they'll leave in droves from the high-priced areas.

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