General: Game/On: EA Mythic

Meddle · June 2006

MMORPG.com is pleased to announce the release of a new commentary podcast featuring co-hosts Garrett Fuller and Jon Wood!

This week on Game/On, co-hosts Garrett Fuller and Jon Wood return for a special edition of our commentary podcasts. This time around theres only one topic, and its the same subject that has been on the minds of many MMORPG players all week. EAs announced acquisition of Mythic Entertainment.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

Ammon777 · June 2006

Hey, i would like to say to your staff that this is a GREAT show youve got! Im definately an intent listener. I download every show as mp3s, and listen to them while i play various MMORPGs. Keep up the good work!

As for EA Mythic, i was taken by surprise as well. And actually i dont know what the think. I think i will delay judgement on the event at this point and will continue to eagerly look forward to Warhammer Online.

As for the Podcast, i listen to every show and look forward to listening every week. Thanks! :-)

thepatriot · June 2006

You are missing the point of the anti-EA arguement. This company has destroyed many great companies and many lives. They are an unethical corporation that would sell anything for a buck. It's not a matter of wether or not the game will be good, most of us believe it will be good at least at launch. It's the matter of giving our money to what we consider an evil company. If you can't stand up for what you believe in then what's the point of having an opinion?

Thor79 · June 2006

To many EA is the SOE of the non-mmo world...

werdna · June 2006

Taken from the announcement on Mythic's site:
Mythic has always been a leading independent developer in the online space," says Mark Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Mythic Entertainment. "EA's commitment to the online market as well as its focus on creating games of unsurpassed quality, scope and scale gives us opportunities and resources we could only dream about in the past."

Oh but wait, EA's MMO track record has been horrible if not mallicious to the consumer. The last GOOD MMO they had was Earth and beyond which they canceled ater two years because it was losing subscribers (at the end, 40% of it's peak player base was still subscribed). Also besides UO and E&B EA hasn't MADE any MMORPGs, so how can they have a history in the MMO industry of creating games of "unsurpassed quality, scope and scale"? I used to be excited about warhammer online, I have to say now that I won't be buying a copy.

Ammon777 · June 2006

The real test, for me, personally, will be in open beta, when I will test the WAR waters and see if EA actually did stay out of messing around with Warhammer. If it turns out that EA altered the game plan despite Mythic's design goals, I wont buy it.

georgegad · June 2006

Well i guess my EA boycott, just became an EA / Mythic boycott.

thepatriot · June 2006

They actually made 3 other MMOs. Motor City online which bombed and was canceled, some conspiracy game that actuall emailed your cell phone which was an even bigger bomb and The Sims Online which is likely headed for cancelation. This doesn't count how many they planed and canceled in development.

tiki · June 2006

Mythic is not getting rid of any of there employees, they will still be the same amazing company they always were just with 100x more money, i for one have no problem with EA, many ppl hate how they bought sport lisences, but who cares EA was the only one to make a decent sports game. Dont worry about past MMORPG's that EA has made, this is EA Mythic and will make good games.

Unknown · June 2006

i have a support questions...

when i try listen to the podcast I always get November last year or something....

the backward forward buttond don't do anything... wouldn't it be much, much better to always have the latest there?

then when i click on the rss feed it shows all, but when i click on the link it tries to download the mp3 file - no live listening - and then fails, as I use a file downloader maybe???

do you have to be a rocket scientist to listen to this show??

PS could you please lay off on the death metal... not my cup of tea... don't see what it has to do with mmorpg?

//end rant

Mighty_THoR · June 2006

!!!!!!!!!!!remember Westwood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DrowNoble · June 2006

I have to agree with another poster, my EA boycott just added Mythic to the list. Which is sad, because since I left WoW I was thinking of returning to DAoC.

EA has *NO* track record with MMOG's I don't know how Mythic thinks so. They didn't make any at all, they acquired UO and Earth & Beyond from companies they bought, then shortly disbanded. Since EA acquired those 2 companies how many Ultima games or UO expansions have there been? How many Command & Conquer games have been release? If you answered "none" grats you get the gold star!

Let us not forget that EA has a class action lawsuit going against it for failing to pay overtime wages to hundreds of employees.

When EA Sports had some competition from ESPN sports games, did they work to develop a better product? Nope! They just wrote a check to the NFL for exclusive rights, essentially barring anything but Madden 200X football games for a while. EA doesn't want competition, they want a monopoly.

EA also attempted acquiring Ubisoft but that didn't go through (thank god).

I am certain that if Mythic hadn't acquired the developing rights to Warhammer, EA wouldn't care about wittle ol' Mythic. I am also certain that when Warhammer Online is release it will be "brought to you by EA", Mythic won't be mentioned.

For all you DAoC players out there, I'd start looking for a new game EA's track record indicates that Camelot will be axed not long after EA takes control. Why? Simple, EA cares only about money and DAoC isn't bringing in 100k+ subscribers.

/mourn Mythic

/rude EA

Spiritraiser · June 2006

I am afraid this will be bad move for Mythic but I will prefer waiting up and see. Maybe Mythic could get some advice from DICE and provide some vehicle fun in WAR similar to BF2? You never know

Anyway, waiting to see how things will go.

tiki · June 2006

actually DAOC does has over a 100,000 subscribers

tiki · June 2006

they have 250,000 subscribers, quite a bit over a 100k

http://www.auphanonline.com/articles/fullsize.php?file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.auphanonline.com%3A8080%2Farticles%2Fimages%2F1450%2F1100990828.gif

DrowNoble · June 2006

I am rather dubious about that stat sheet. According to that EQ1 still has over 400k subscribers? VERY doubtful as they had to consolidate servers last year. You don't consolidate all your servers if you have 400k subscribers.

I suspect that is being inflated as I read an old article years back saying SOE counts anyone who subscribe at any time "a subscriber" for their stats. So, even tho I haven't played EQ since Planes of Power, I am still be counted as a subscriber by SOE for stats.

It also shows 300k for SWG, which I doubt very much if they have even half that.

tiki · June 2006

yea my bad, that stat was for 2 years ago and i didnt see it until now

http://www.mmogchart.com/ is the newest 1 go to the 100,000-700,000 subscribers link and daoc deosnt have 250,000 but they still have 125,000 which is still above 100k

tiki · June 2006

and also on the last grab bag on the camelot herald site they said that they r still coming out with there next expantion, they r announcing what it is next month

Hives · June 2006

I have no problem with EA buying out Mythic for the simple fact that Daoc is dead and Warhammer will be a cheap rip off of WoW. We all know how EA handles their games, Ultima online for example.. Selling premade characters and the customer support was a joke so now they're taking a dead game and they will milk it for every penny they can while in the process hyping up Warhammer just for it to fail. Get ready for some big changes in Daoc like premade characters for sell and probablly a raise in the monthly fee but let's be honest Mythic dropped the ball with Daoc they had a good story line to fall back on and the game was pretty solid and what do they do? Nothing! No real events, No real crafting system, RvR rewards were a joke and the loot I can go on and on about... Look at the Warhammer pics doesn't it look like a mixture of WoW and Daoc with worst graphics?

thepatriot · June 2006

Originally posted by tiki

Mythic is not getting rid of any of there employees, they will still be the same amazing company they always were just with 100x more money, i for one have no problem with EA, many ppl hate how they bought sport lisences, but who cares EA was the only one to make a decent sports game. Dont worry about past MMORPG's that EA has made, this is EA Mythic and will make good games.

The point is that EA doesn't have a good track record of not interfering in any company they buy. Mythic may not be laying anyone off today, but in the end Mark Jacobs doesn't get to make that decision, EA does and EA thruout its' history has disassembled companies that it buys. The real question here is what does EA consider the most valuable asset in this deal. The W.A.R. liscense or the employees of Mythic. To answer that question, simply ask a former Origin developer how EA dealt with them.

tiki · June 2006

Originally posted by Hives
I have no problem with EA buying out Mythic for the simple fact that Daoc is dead and Warhammer will be a cheap rip off of WoW. We all know how EA handles their games, Ultima online for example.. Selling premade characters and the customer support was a joke so now they're taking a dead game and they will milk it for every penny they can while in the process hyping up Warhammer just for it to fail. Get ready for some big changes in Daoc like premade characters for sell and probablly a raise in the monthly fee but let's be honest Mythic dropped the ball with Daoc they had a good story line to fall back on and the game was pretty solid and what do they do? Nothing! No real events, No real crafting system, RvR rewards were a joke and the loot I can go on and on about... Look at the Warhammer pics doesn't it look like a mixture of WoW and Daoc with worst graphics?

im sorry but anyone who says that warhammer online is gana be a cheap rip off of world of warcraft is a ignorant fool and daoc is not dead, still has over 100k subscribers and is coming out with a nother expantion pack in a few months

DrowNoble · June 2006

DAoC isn't dead but it took a bad wound with Trials of Atlantis. That single expansion turned it into an Everquest Clone with the ridiculous grinding and raiding needed to do anything. Had that expansion never existed DAoC would be boasting far larger numbers, of that I have no doubt. DAoC has the small but strong fanbase similar to EVE Online, not near WoW numbers but enough to keep the servers on and the content coming.

Warhammer will not be a WoW clone, though I am sure there will be comparisons. The Warhammer universe is much different from Warcraft. For one thing I expect a lot of siege warfare in Warhammer, where there is none in WoW.

I hate to repeat myself but I am still dubious about 100k+ subscribers for DAoC. If you check current numbers of people playing, it is typically around 17k or so total for all servers. That would mean nearly 85% of their subscribers don't play at any one time? Doesn't sound right to me.

EA simply has a very bad track record when they acquire a company. Where are Origin and Westwood nowadays?

Oh and as to the EA Sports comment, I found the ESPN games to be far better (less expensive too). Now instead of working to develop a better product to beat the competiton, EA just wrote a check to the NFL to *prevent* competition with an exclusivity deal.

I bet it won't take long before EA "consolidates" Mythic into the EA Collective and DAoC becomes proudly brought to you by EA alone.

As an absurd tidbit about EA, when I was beta testing Earth & Beyond there was actually a patch that made the EA logo stay onscreen for 10secs. Usually, you could click your way passed the company logos to the login screen but EA actually told Westwood to prevent *their* logo from being bypassed.

At this rate, in a few years all games will be either SOE or EA, in which case I may have to find a new hobby.

tiki · June 2006

all very true but i have much faith in mythic, if they didnt turn down EA 1 time id be thinking the same thing everyone else is but the fact of the matter is they made a new deal that im sure didnt have anything to do with more money, but more ability to do what mythic does best with little restrictions.

About the 100k subscribers, a lot of ppl are not power games, more than u think only play the game once every week or less and a lot of ppl r still subscribed like my self but dont play even a day 2 weeks simply because i get board and i can always jump onto daoc. The reason y i dont play much is because i played since release, TOA is bad but not enough to stop me from playing but because i played since release and now after many years just like any other game it seems like im doing the same thing every time

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