The War Herald has announced that EA has decided to reorganize its RPG and MMO studios. Mythic Entertainment and Bioware (including Austin and Edmonton) will now be led as a group by BioWare Co-Founder Ray Muzyka. Mark Jacobs, the former CEO and General Manager of Mythic, has left the company as of June 23rd, 2009. Mythic's Rob Denton will replace Jacobs as General Manager at Mythic and report directly to Muzyka.

When contacted, representatives at Mythic Entertainment had no comment at this time.

Today we have important news to share with the community. EA is restructuring its RPG and MMO games development into a new group that includes both Mythic and BioWare. This newly formed team will be led by Ray Muzyka, co-founder and General Manager of BioWare. With this change, Ray becomes Group General Manager of the new RPG/MMO studio group. BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer for the new RPG/MMO studio group. Rob Denton will step up as General Manager of Mythic and report to Ray. BioWare’s studios remain unchanged and continue to report to Ray.

Mark Jacobs, current General Manager of Mythic will leave EA on June 23, 2009. We thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward. Mark played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.

Mythic retains a strong team led by Rob who co-founded Mythic in 1995. Rob played a critical role in the development of Dark Age of Camelot. In his previous role as COO, he was responsible for all day-to-day management of the studio including all development, operations and support.

Please join us in celebrating the union of these two award-winning studios.

Get it from the horse's mouth

Really sad news...

Hmm wonder what is going to happen with WAR. Who knows, maybe it can turn into something alot better ?

RIP Bioware, and Mythic

Originally posted by ProfRed

Really sad news...

..........For BioWare....  I would not want to be merged with mythic. Ah well.. things like this happens, I don't see why they didn't just get rid of mythic all together though.

Once again EA the destroyer of game companies rears its ugly head....*sigh*

When will companies learn to stay away from them.

They're still making the same type of MMOs, none of which I'm very interested in, so...it doesn't really matter I guess is what I'm getting at.

When they offer up a moderinzed AC-esque, UO-esque type MMO...then it'll be worth talking about.

So, does this mean WAR was not the success EA wanted? 

Is RvR not the successful system they thought? Or was it just the way it was implemented as people loved it in DAoC?

Should some serious thought be given, now...finally...to modernizing some older forumlas like DAoC, AC, UO, by a larger AAA company as they were popular for their time?

Originally posted by pandrax

Originally posted by ProfRed

Really sad news...

 

..........For BioWare....  I would not want to be merged with mythic. Ah well.. things like this happens, I don't see why they didn't just get rid of mythic all together though.

For Mythic, for BioWare, and for all of us who at one time enjoyed the creativity, innovation, and originality of either company or the titles they put out over their lifetime. 

I won't go as far as saying anything about WAR's future, but with this merge, I can definitely understand why GW is so damn reluctant to put their franchises into outside hands. Everytime they break into stuff like MMOs, they get plagued by bad/dodgy news. WAR, after all, wasn't the first attempt at a Warhammer Fantasy MMO...

All i can say is... what the????

Maybe Mark will join up with Brad for the next mmo....

 edit: name...

It makes sense in a lot of ways to have the resources aligned this way.

I feel like I read more into the statement ... but I'll shut up on that.

Not sure I had the best feelings about Mark Jacobs over the last year.  However, DAoC was one very enjoyable experience for many years.  So I'll thank him for that and wish him the best.

A minor correction, merge was probably the wrong word in the original headline. It appears, although we're following up, that each will continue to operate, but rather than Mythic reporting back to EA, they will be part of a group within EA manager by one of Bioware's Co-Founders.

Originally posted by korvass

I won't go as far as saying anything about WAR's future, but with this merge, I can definitely understand why GW is so damn reluctant to put their franchises into outside hands. Everytime they break into stuff like MMOs, they get plagued by bad/dodgy news. WAR, after all, wasn't the first attempt at a Warhammer Fantasy MMO...

...and in my opinion the direction that other company was taking with the Warhammer game they were making was a better one. It, artiscally, was darker, grittier and just seemed more in tune with the Old World that GW trys to portray in it's lore writing. Then it's as if someone stepped in and said "Hey, that doesn't look like WoW. We need it to look more like WoW. They have 10 million subscribers. that's what's "popular" right now. Make it look more like WoW." So they yanked it from the other company and gave it to Mythic who could make it...well... look more like WoW.

Originally posted by Dana

A minor correction, merge was probably the wrong word in the original headline. It appears, although we're following up, that each will continue to operate, but rather than Mythic reporting back to EA, they will be part of a group within EA manager by one of Bioware's Co-Founders.

Ah, well that changes things somewhat, but you're not the only one making this mistake, there are other threads making the same claim.  I'm afraid, for now, damage is done.

Originally posted by Dana

A minor correction, merge was probably the wrong word in the original headline. It appears, although we're following up, that each will continue to operate, but rather than Mythic reporting back to EA, they will be part of a group within EA manager by one of Bioware's Co-Founders.

Something else to find out if you can is MJ leaving or was he fired??

Originally posted by WeaponX

Originally posted by Dana

A minor correction, merge was probably the wrong word in the original headline. It appears, although we're following up, that each will continue to operate, but rather than Mythic reporting back to EA, they will be part of a group within EA manager by one of Bioware's Co-Founders.

 

Something else to find out if you can is MJ leaving or was he fired??

I believe its ask to leave, but they would use the terms, parted in mutual agreement... with a golden handshake behind....

Originally posted by WeaponX

Originally posted by Dana

A minor correction, merge was probably the wrong word in the original headline. It appears, although we're following up, that each will continue to operate, but rather than Mythic reporting back to EA, they will be part of a group within EA manager by one of Bioware's Co-Founders.

 

Something else to find out if you can is MJ leaving or was he fired??

That's one of those questions we'll never hear an answer to. Every parting is always mutual, officially at least, once you pass a certain pay grade.

ofc they wont say fired, no one even said Godager was fired :P 

Originally posted by Lobotomist

RIP Bioware, and Mythic

? 

Maybe Mythic, but not sure how this negatively affects Bioware.  Mythic probably could have used better guidance from the beginning on this game.  I can't see how this would be anything less than positive as I thought they did a pretty poor job on many element of WAR anyway.  It's not like they could make it worse with different oversight.....

Originally posted by andmiller

Originally posted by Lobotomist

RIP Bioware, and Mythic

 

? 

Maybe Mythic, but not sure how this negatively affects Bioware.  Mythic probably could have used better guidance from the beginning on this game.  I can't see how this would be anything less than positive as I thought they did a pretty poor job on many element of WAR anyway.  It's not like they could make it worse with different oversight.....

As I posted in another related topic.

When Mythic and EA joined forces. There was a talk how Mythic will never actually have to report to EA. That they are as independent as it gets.

How independent Mythic were , is quite obvious by now.

When WAR failed to meet EA expectations Mark Jackobs was let go. And leader of completely different studio was appointed as Mythic leader.

(And note Mythic is MMO studio, Bioware is single player RPG studio. As much i love Bioware and Ray Myzuka. Giving lead of studio with one destinct style to a person dedicated to completely different style of gaming - is bad.)

So now is Ray Myzuka time to make cash cow for EA.

If he fails , he can allready see what happened to his predecessor ( and many before: Garriot , Molyneux ...)

Let me use old saying

Bioware is now : A king for a day, and fool for a lifetime

Sad day indeed

WOW Suprising!!

I don't know why this reminds me of Richard Garriot leaving Tabula Rasa a few months or weeks before its demise announcement... might just be paranoia though...

 I don't see this as a bad thing. Bioware makes great games. They are working on one MMO now, SWTOR, and are rumored to be working on a Neverwinter Nights MMO. Granted they have no completed MMO's but they do have a great track record for building RPG's. 

[quote] Mark Jacobs, the former CEO and General Manager of Mythic, has left the company as of June 23rd, 2009[/quote]

This made my day. I've seen game producers with big egos ... Mr. Jacobs' ego, on the other hand was simply above and beyond. I would cringe my teeth every time I would hear him "addressing" the player base. Every single one of his statements had a sense of self-importance beyond belief. So, yeah perhaps a little shadenfreude.

As for BioWare + Mythic ... it sucks be working for either of them. Knowing how hamfisted EA is, wouldn't doubt the do away with 50% of their personnel and screw upcoming games like SW:TOR and make them WoW clones.

Peace.

Mark Jacobs sold his soul and his company downriver to EA. At the time he said it was to better produce the game with EA's resources . He didn't fool anyone, it was all about the money. Now that you got fired was it worth it ? Your name is forever shamed buddy.