Mythic Entertainment

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"Mythic" redirects here. For other uses, see Mythology and Traditional story.
Mythic Entertainment
Type Subsidiary of Electronic Arts
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 Mythic Entertainment

Mythic Entertainment (which has also been known as BioWare Mythic, 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] The company was then known as BioWare Mythic.[4]

Most recently, according to Mythic employee Paul Barnett, the studio has been renamed back to Mythic Entertainment.[5] This was confirmed in November 2012 on the Dark Age of Camelot website.[6]

History

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.

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 intended to merge Mythic with fellow RPG developer BioWare.[7] On November 9, 2009, Mythic was part of a broader reduction in force throughout Electronic Arts. The number of employees released was not made public.[8][9][10]

Dark Age of Camelot

Mythic started Dark Age of Camelot development in late 1999. The company invested US$3.2 million developing the game, an amount more than double the sum used for all its previous games.[citation needed] 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.

Imperator 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.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

During the E3 trade show, on May 18, 2005, Mythic announced that it had licensed the Warhammer Fantasy IP and was starting to work on a new MMO, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. This title was released on September 18, 2008. The game's last day of play was December 18, 2013[11]

Mythic / Microsoft Lawsuit

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.[12]

Corporate Honors

It has been listed on the Deloitte Technology 500 list of fastest growing (by revenue) technology companies in North America since 2002.[citation needed] In 2004 it ranked 106th with a 2,226% increase in revenue over the past five years.

List of games

References

  1. ↑ Surette, Tim; Thorsen, Tor (2006-06-20). "EA drops Warhammer on Mythic". GameSpot. 
  2. ↑ Wood, Jon (2008-07-10). "Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning". mmorpg.com. 
  3. ↑ Fahey, Mike (2009-06-24). "EA Combines Mythic And BioWare Into A Giant RPG Robot". Kotaku. 
  4. ↑ Totilo, Stephen (2010-03-20). "What The People Behind Mass Effect And Dragon Age Are Trying To Do". Kotaku. 
  5. ↑ https://twitter.com/thatbarnettblok/status/261085045090037760
  6. ↑ Schober, Kai (2012-11-07). "BioWare Mythic is now known as Mythic". 
  7. ↑ Funk, John (2009-06-24). "BioWare and Mythic Merge, Mark Jacobs Leaves". The Escapist. 
  8. ↑ Athryn (2009-11-09). "Mythic Entertainment, responsible for Warhammer Online, just laid of 80 people, about 40% of its employees". Twitter. 
  9. ↑ Funk, John (2009-11-09). "EA Heavily Cuts Jobs at Mythic, Tiburon, Black Box and Redwood". The Escapist. 
  10. ↑ Remo, Chris (2009-11-09). "EA Announces Increased Net Loss, Confirms 1,500 Layoffs". Gamasutra. 
  11. ↑ http://www.warhammeronline.com/article/Warhammer-Online-Shutdown-6pm-Eastern-December-18th-2013-UTC-0500
  12. ↑ "Mythic Entertainment Reaches Agreement To Settle Litigation With Microsoft". Mythic Entertainment. 2004-05-25. 
  13. ↑ "Warhammer Online to cease operations". 
  14. ↑ "Wrath of Heroes Official Website". Electronic Arts. 

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