Mythic entertainment

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Mythic entertainment
legal form Corporation
founding 1995
resolution May 2014
Reason for dissolution Closure by the parent company
Seat Fairfax (Virginia) , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management Rob Denton
Branch Software development
Website www.mythicentertainment.com

Mythic Entertainment , sometimes also known as BioWare Mythic , EA Mythic, Inc. and Interworld Productions , was an American development studio for computer games in Fairfax, Virginia . Mythic has been one of the most successful developers of multiplayer online titles since its inception in the mid-1990s. The company gained greater fame in 2001 with its MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot . In 2006 the company was taken over by the US publisher Electronic Arts , and in May 2014 it was closed.

history

Forerunner to the foundation

Mythic was created through the merger of two online development studios in the Washington, DC area , Adventures Unlimited Software Inc. (AUSI) and Interesting Systems, Inc.

Adventures Unlimited Software Inc. (AUSI) was founded by Mark Jacobs in 1984 with the release of the commercial online role-playing game Aradath , which cost $ 40 a month. AUSI later developed games for the online network GEnie , including Dragon's Gate, inspired by Aradath in 1985, and an online version of the game Diplomacy with Eric Raymond in 1990 .

Interesting Systems, Inc. (ISI) was founded in Fairfax in 1990 by Rob Denton, Matt Firor , Don Campbell and Roger Shropshire. Influenced by the early MUD Scepter of Goth , the team developed a text-based mailbox role-playing game called Tempest until the founding of Mythic Entertainment , which was later renamed Darkness Falls for trademark reasons . Darkness Falls later served as the basis for the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot .

Mythic Entertainment was officially founded in 1995 when AUSI (under the leadership of Mark Jacobs) and ISI (under Rob Denton) merged. The original company name was Interworld Productions and was only changed to Mythic Entertainment in November 1997.

Entry into the MMORPG market

Mythic developed several online games, from first-person shooters to online role-playing games, by the late 1990s . The titles published in this early phase include Silent Death Online , Magestorm Millennium , Darkness Falls: The Crusade , ID4 Online , Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict and Splatterball .

In late 1999, Mythic began developing Dark Age of Camelot ( DAoC ). The company invested $ 3.2 million to develop the game, more than double what the company had spent on all previous developments combined. It was also the company's first massively multiplayer online role-playing game . Development was led by Rob Denton as lead programmer and Matt Firor as producer. It was first launched in the USA in 2001. The game received good ratings from the trade press and, with 51,000 games sold, significantly exceeded the original sales expectations of 30,000 copies. At its peak , DAoC had 250,000 subscribers and continued to operate after the studio was closed.

In 2002, Mythic announced work on a new science fiction MMO called Imperator Online . This MMORPG was based on an alternate world story in which the Roman Empire never perished and advanced into space, where it has now developed its influence across several planets. However, the project was discontinued in 2005.

Litigation with Microsoft

In December 2003, Mythic sued Microsoft for copyright infringement and unfair competitive behavior over the name of Microsoft's MMORPG Mythica , which was then in development. On May 25, 2004, three months after the development was discontinued, Mythic announced that the dispute had been resolved and that Microsoft had agreed not to use the Mythica name for new online computer games and not to register a trademark. In this context, Microsoft transferred all Mythica- related trademark rights and web domains to Mythic.

Warhammer Online and takeover by EA

At the E3 trade fair on May 18, 2005, Mythic announced that it had acquired a license for the role-playing game Warhammer Fantasy , on the basis of which a new MMORPG entitled Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was to be created. Mark Jacobs acted as lead designer.

The American publisher Electronic Arts took over Mythic Entertainment on June 20, 2006 and renamed the studio EA Mythic. Matt Firor left the company at the same time as the takeover. After the takeover, Mythic was entrusted with the support of the MMORPG classic Ultima Online in addition to his previous work by Electronic Arts . On July 10, 2008, the company renamed itself to Mythic Entertainment. Warhammer Online was released on September 18, 2008 and ran until December 18, 2013. During this time, however, it never lived up to the high expectations.

On June 24, 2009 Electronic Arts made its restructuring plan public, according to which the developer studios Mythic Entertainment and BioWare would be merged into an RPG / MMO division under the direction of BioWare founder Ray Muzyka . In this context, it was also announced that the long-time studio manager of Mythic Entertainment, Mark Jacobs, had left the company the day before on June 23 and had been replaced by Rob Denton. From then on, the company appeared under the name BioWare Mythic. On November 9, 2009, Mythic was also hit by a group-wide wave of layoffs after Electronic Arts had made major losses. The exact number of laid-off employees was never disclosed, but according to unconfirmed statements 80 people, around 40% of the workforce, were affected.

Last productions until closing

After Warhammer Online , Mythic switched to the free-to-play business model. In 2012, the MOBA game Warhammer: Wrath of Heroes went into open beta, but was discontinued after just one year in 2013. At the end of 2012, after the BioWare founders withdrew and the BioWare group dissolved, Mythic was renamed Mythic Entertainment again. In 2013, the games Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar and a widely criticized license exploitation of Dungeon Keeper followed for mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) .

On February 5, 2014, Mythic announced that 14 employees including co-founder Rob Denton had left the company and started Broadsword Online Games. The new studio also took care of the only remaining games Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot from Mythic . On May 29, 2014, Electronic Arts announced the closure of the EA Mythic site in Fairfax.

Award

The company was first listed on the 2002 Deloitte Technology 500 list for the fastest growing technology companies in North America by revenue. In 2004, it was listed at number 106, with sales growing 2.226% over the past five years.

Published games

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/09/11/matt-firor-online-worlds-interview
  2. ↑ Mythic Entertainment Reaches Agreement To Settle Litigation With Microsoft ( English ) Mythic Entertainment. May 25, 2004. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 28, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mythicentertainment.com
  3. ↑ Tim Surette, Tor Thorsen: EA drops Warhammer on Mythic . In: GameSpot . June 20, 2006. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/797
  5. ↑ Jon Wood: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning ( English ) In: mmorpg.com . July 10, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  6. ↑ PC world
  7. ↑ Mike Fahey: EA Combines Mythic And BioWare Into A Giant RPG Robot ( English ) In: Kotaku . June 24th, 2009. Archived from the original on September 29th, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 28, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kotaku.com
  8. ^ John Funk: BioWare and Mythic Merge, Mark Jacobs Leaves ( English ) In: The Escapist . June 24, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  9. ↑ Stephen Totilo: What The People Behind Mass Effect And Dragon Age Are Trying To Do ( English ) In: Kotaku . March 20, 2010. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ Athryn: Mythic Entertainment, responsible for Warhammer Online, just laid of 80 people, about 40% of its employees ( English ) Twitter . November 9, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  11. ^ John Funk: EA Heavily Cuts Jobs at Mythic, Tiburon, Black Box and Redwood . The Escapist. November 9, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  12. ↑ Chris Remo: EA Announces Increased Net Loss, Confirms 1,500 Layoffs ( English ) In: Gamasutra . November 9, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  13. ↑ Twitter / thatbarnettblok: @prencher We certainly are back to being Mythic, its awesome! (October 24, 2012). Twitter.com. Retrieved May 22nd.
  14. ↑ Kai Schober: BioWare Mythic is now known as Mythic ( English ) November 7, 2012. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved on June 28, 2014.
  15. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / massively.joystiq.com
  16. ↑ Jason Schreier: EA Shuts Down Longtime Game Studio Mythic Entertainment . In: Kotaku . May 29, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  17. ↑ Warhammer Online to cease operations . Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  18. ^ Wrath of Heroes Official Website . Electronic Arts . Retrieved June 28, 2014.