| Type | Subsidiary of Electronic Arts, Division of BioWare |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer and video games Interactive entertainment |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Fairfax, Virginia, USA |
| Key people | Dr. Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager Dr. Greg Zeschuk, Chief Creative Officer Rob Denton, Group General Manager Eugene Evans, General Manager Jeff Hickman, Studio Executive Producer |
| Products | Video games |
| Owner(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Parent | Electronic Arts |
| Website | BioWare Mythic |
BioWare Mythic (formerly Mythic Entertainment, EA Mythic, Inc. and Interworld Productions) is a video game developer in Fairfax, Virginia which is most widely recognized for developing the 2001 massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dark Age of Camelot. Mythic has been a prolific creator of multiplayer online games since its formation in the mid 1990s.
Electronic Arts purchased Mythic Entertainment and renamed the company EA Mythic on June 20, 2006.[1] EA Mythic renamed themselves back to Mythic Entertainment on July 10, 2008.[2] On June 24, 2009, it was announced that as part of EA's restructuring plan Mythic Entertainment and BioWare would come together under a new RPG/MMO division headed by BioWare General Manager Dr. Ray Muzyka. It was also revealed that current General Manager of Mythic Mark Jacobs had left EA on June 23, 2009 and would be replaced by Rob Denton.[3] According to General Manager Dr. Ray Muzyka the company is now called BioWare Mythic.[4]
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Mythic Entertainment (August 2006 - July 2008, EA Mythic) is best known for its 2001 MMORPG, Dark Age of Camelot, although it has developed many other smaller titles as well. Mythic Entertainment released Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning on September 18, 2008.
Mythic originally evolved from two early Washington, DC (USA) area online game development companies. The first was Adventures Unlimited Software Inc. (AUSI), was founded in 1984 By Mark Jacobs when it launched Aradath, a commercial online role-playing video game which charged US$40 per month. AUSI later developed games for GEnie, creating an online version of Diplomacy with Eric Raymond in 1990, and Dragon's Gate in 1985, originally inspired by Aradath. Mark Jacobs was the president of AUSI and other developers there would later work for Mythic.[5]
The other half of Mythic Entertainment was Interesting Systems, Inc., founded by Rob Denton, Matt Firor, Don Cambpell, and Roger Shropshire in Fairfax, VA, in 1990. Prior to the founding of Mythic Entertainment, ISI had developed one multi-user BBS text-based role-playing game called "Tempest", which was later renamed Darkness Falls. Darkness Falls would later provide the codebase for Dark Age of Camelot.
Mythic Entertainment was officially formed in 1995 when AUSI (Mark Jacobs) and ISI (Rob Denton) joined together. Its original name was Interworld Productions, and in November 1997 the name was changed to Mythic Entertainment.
Mythic made numerous online games in the mid and late 1990s, ranging from online action first-person shooters to online RPGs. Some titles include Silent Death Online, Magestorm Millennium, Darkness Falls: The Crusade, ID4 Online, Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict, and Splatterball.
On 24 June 2009, it was announced that longtime Mythic boss Mark Jacobs had left the company and that EA intends to merge Mythic with fellow RPG developer BioWare.[6]
On November 9, 2009 EA Mythic was part of a broader reduction in force throughout Electronic Arts. The number of employees released was not made public.[7][8][9]
In early 2010, EA Mythic was moved completely into the BioWare RPG group within EA.
Mythic started Dark Age of Camelot development in late 1999. The company invested $3.2 million developing the game, an amount more than double the sum used for all its previous games. Dark Age of Camelot was also the company's first massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Dark Age of Camelot development was led by Rob Denton, as lead programmer, and by Matt Firor as Producer.
Dark Age of Camelot support and development continues, in parallel with other EA Mythic projects, such as the 2005-announced Warhammer Online.
In 2002, Mythic announced it was working on a new title, a science-fiction themed MMO called Imperator Online. This MMORPG based on an alternate history where the Roman Republic never fell, and advanced to be a space-traveling multi-planet Empire. This project was cancelled in 2005.
During the E3 trade show, on May 18, 2005, Mythic announced that it had licensed the Warhammer IP and was starting to work on a new MMO, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. This title was released on September 18, 2008.
Mythic sued Microsoft in December 2003 for trademark infringement and unfair competition regarding the name of Microsoft's Mythica MMORPG, which was in development at that time. On May 25, 2004, three months after the game was cancelled, Mythic announced that the case was settled and that Microsoft agreed to not use the Mythica name on new online video games and to not register it as a trademark. Also as part of the deal, Microsoft gave all Mythica-related trademarks and domain names to Mythic.[10]
It has been listed on the Deloitte Technology 500 list of fastest growing (by revenue) technology companies in North America since 2002. In 2004 it ranked 106th with a 2,226% increase in revenue over the past five years.