In haste, since work is keeping me busy:
How Am I Wasting My Time?
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In haste, since work is keeping me busy:
Comments are closed.
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Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS) ^
#1 by Njal on June 24th, 2009
Yow indeed. I actually like Mark’s stated objectives when he designs games. Unfortunately he hasn’t been able to deliver and Warhammer severely disappointed me in the RvR endgame. Nonetheless I’ve loved DAoC for a long time and hopefully Mythic can help maker SWTOR better with their expertise in the MMOG field.
Look I can dream can’t I?
#2 by Brandon on June 24th, 2009
Nerf Left Lightsaber.
#3 by Birkel on June 24th, 2009
You just made my month. Thanks for that sir! It’s sad that so few readers will get that joke.
#4 by Rich Weil on June 24th, 2009
Don’t forget the Warner / Codemaster rumors. Not as big a deal, but these three stories sure make for an interesting day.
#5 by Blackblade on June 24th, 2009
So Mark sold out Mythic to EA to bring WAR to market..
Then they got rid of Mark once they had what they wanted, for better or worse. Is anyone surprised?
Any bets on how long until the founders of Bioware go out the door? Or is it generally agreed upon that the reason they are getting rid of Mark is because of WAR’s.. I don’t know.. Mediocrity?
#6 by ReptileHouse on June 24th, 2009
Holy crap. BioMythic (Biothic? gotta be a cool contraction in there somewhere…) has huge potential.
#7 by InterSlayer on June 24th, 2009
How tragic for Bioware. 3-5 years before Bioware is in the same position and gets rolled into whatever studio EA has recently acquired.
Either that or their studio and creative IP goes into duplicative lockdown, and milked for yearly releases of the same game (EA Sports, EA Maxis).
#8 by Ajediday on June 24th, 2009
Brandon, you owe me a new keyboard.
#9 by Crask on June 24th, 2009
“Look at us six months out. Look at us six weeks out. If we’re not adding servers, we’re not doing well.”
While I was really disappointed with the lack of quality in Warhammer, I was more let down by the lack of professionalism over at Mythic. I don’t really expect this to change anything, that game is fundamentally broken and I’m not sure I see a path to correcting it minus some damn near ground up rewriting.
#10 by pharniel on June 24th, 2009
Honestly I think Mark dug his own grave here.
All the trash talk about ‘250k subscribers would be failure’ etc. we all saw as old fashioned smak-talk pr crap, but if any of the EA execs drank of that cool-aide and backed his plays then this may be a personal realization of their dissapointment. All it takes is one of these guys to feel like you’ve ‘let them down’ or made them loose face when they ‘backed you up’ and you get some very heavy handed dissapointment. i.e. you promised me something and then failed to deliver. watch as we smash everything you ever cared about to piecies because we (I) looked bad.
it’s also entirely possible he took his cash and ran and is off to found a new studio as well.
#11 by Ibn on June 24th, 2009
I’m surprised that all the comments here have been focused on the Mythic/BioWare news and not on the id purchase. To me, the latter is the bigger story. Especially considering the long history between id and other publishers, most significantly Activision and their studios like Raven. Does this mark an end to that relationship?
#12 by geldonyetich on June 24th, 2009
I should read more gaming news, I was ignorant of most of this happening and it is indeed big, earth-shaking stuff. The recession just delivered a solid punch to the game industry’s teeth. (Granted, the clone-producing, casual-pandering bastard probably deserved it.)
Sorry to hear Mark Jacobs is out of a job. I like that guy – very friendly fellow whenever he visited a board or did an interview.
#13 by DoubleD on June 24th, 2009
Writing was on the wall when they opened official War hammer Forums
#14 by MrTact on June 24th, 2009
Ha, fuckers! Now you know what it felt like to be on the UO team when Mythic showed up and started pissing in everyone’s faces.
#15 by openedge1 on June 24th, 2009
Right after Funcom patched Age of Conan today and made it 100 times better..
Who woulda thunk it?
#16 by Ark on June 24th, 2009
I really hate to see this same damn show over and over again.
1. EA buys company
2. Company insists that they will remain independent and stick to their vision
3. Company gets fully absorbed into the EA Borg and produces nothing but mass market retreads.
Ugh.
#17 by Matthew on June 24th, 2009
Are you trying to make us cry here, Lum? You can’t put both of those crazy things in one post, it’s just not right.
#18 by Mr. Poppinfresh on June 24th, 2009
I…
But…
I mean he…
Yeah, words fail me.
#19 by Gx1080 on June 24th, 2009
Well, they had to fire the guy. You cant have any independent thought in your Borg slaves after all.
#20 by geldonyetich on June 24th, 2009
Interesting. Of course, one can only judge a person based off of their own interactions with them – he was very polite whenever I saw him, but clearly that wasn’t the whole story.
Now, me, I’m a lot meaner on forums than in person. (My over-caffeinated tongue has written me some rather large checks I as defaulting over on that other thread.)
Jacobs is apparently the other way around – nice guy on a forum (at least on the forums I’ve seen him on), but maybe a bit more belligerent in person.
Granted, I thought you guys *liked* dumping on Garriott. Heh.
#21 by Sheepherder on June 24th, 2009
I’m wondering if Bethesda wants access to the Doom engine.
#22 by Mr. Poppinfresh on June 24th, 2009
@geldonyetich
I’m going to be very polite and circumspect, here.
As someone who went to E3, oh, seven or eight times, and did other dork media type things, I can safely say that insofar as my personal interactions go, decorum is not one of Mark Jacobs’ best skills.
And I’ll leave it at that, since this thread is about bigger things than one man’s parachute, golden or otherwise.
#23 by Bleaktea on June 24th, 2009
Mythware is almost too obvious.
#24 by Wufiavelli on June 24th, 2009
I was really happy to see gaute go in Age of Conan. But seeing Jacobs go makes me kind of sad.
#25 by J. on June 24th, 2009
I’m good for something, apparently.
#26 by Mist on June 24th, 2009
I certainly don’t think EA got what they wanted with WAR.
I hope the first thing they do is fire everyone that had anything to do with WAR, first and foremost Paul Barnett.
#27 by J. on June 24th, 2009
Also, EA was expecting what Mythic was promising, which was a WoW killer. They thought it would sell, and staffed up to support, units in the millions. Whether that has anything at all to do with Jacobs’ departure, well, you can speculate.
Also, lolJohnRomeroTweeter: http://twitter.com/theromero/status/2313797026
#28 by geldonyetich on June 24th, 2009
I’m not sure if it’s that Mythic was promising a WoW killer so much as if they were being severely pressured by EA to produce a WoW competitor. I mean, this is “Origin is an Ultima Company” EA we’re talking about here.
#29 by Blackblade on June 24th, 2009
That was why there was a “For better or Worse” stipulation. I’m sure on paper, WAR sounded like it would be the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think it’s pretty clear they purchased Mythic with the intent of acquiring the profits they thought WAR would bring in.
I do think Mythic is/was a great company – the made DAoC after all. And for all the flack Richard Garriott gets, he did make UO, and even though TR wasn’t my cup of tea, I didn’t think it was that bad a game. Give the devils they’re due.
But also, give the devil that is EA it’s due as well – Origin, Bullfrog, Sierra (I think?), and now Mythic join the ranks of companies they’ve acquired with bad results.
If I were the Bioware founders, I’d look at the writing on the wall and start saving for a rainy day. Unless whatever they produce has a guaranteed Midas touch, those storm clouds can move in awful fast.
#30 by J. on June 24th, 2009
Sierra was a Vivendi property, purchased around the same time as Blizzard. It was revived as a label about three years ago, but shut down again when Vivendi purchased Activision and reformed its games division as Activision Blizzard.
Bioware has yet to make a failed game. They’ve got life in them yet.
#31 by Aufero on June 24th, 2009
I see all that bullshit about Mythic and Bioware being independent studios within the greater EA framework lasted about as long as an iceberg at the equator.
#32 by IainC on June 24th, 2009
They are remaining independent studios. EA are creating a new MMO/RPG division and both BioWare and Mythic are a part of it. They aren’t merging despite the rather unclear language in the announcement.
#33 by Blackblade on June 24th, 2009
Did Origin make a “failed” game (Which again largely depends on your definition of “failed”) before they were acquired? The Ultima series, UO, Wing Commander all stand out in my memory as pretty decent games.
Mythic had DAoC, although I had never heard of their previous games, I don’t remember too much, if any negative feedback on their previous games.
I still play UO a lot, and I played DAoC for quite a few years, even after ToA, and came back a few times. I did play WAR and thought that was pretty good too. But I also play WoW.
Again, just my perspective, but I think if Bioware is the company with the Midas touch, EA is the company with Black Thumb…
#34 by Scott Jennings on June 24th, 2009
From Wikipedia’s entry on Ultima 7, taken from an Escapist article by Allen Varney:
#35 by geldonyetich on June 24th, 2009
Egads, the victim saw the murderer.
#36 by J. on June 24th, 2009
Yup. Heaps. They did not weather the sudden jump to much larger and unwieldy teams well. It’s part of why they sold to EA.
#37 by octopaganini on June 24th, 2009
@Scott Jennings
And they say games aren’t art…
#38 by Bonedead on June 24th, 2009
That is a lot of news to swallow in one day
#39 by Hudson on June 24th, 2009
This
#40 by Brian 'Psychochild' Green on June 24th, 2009
Mark Jacobs is a good guy. What he lacks in social graces he makes up for in passion, and passion is what you need to surivive in game development.
I was around for the little event that Poppinfresh references above; Mark had his heart in the right place, he was upset that someone so notable would claim (or at least sit silently while someone else made the claim for them) that they were the originator of online games. Mythic was an old school developer and launched a number of games before UO was seriously worked on, and Mark knew that even him taking the title would be impolite to a lot of the pioneers who worked hard to get us to where we could bitch about the games of today.
As for the actual news posted above, yeah, welcome to the global economy games industry. Acquisitions look fun when they first start, but it seems (especially at EA) that someone always gets sacrificed on an altar down the road.
#41 by We Fly Spitfires on June 24th, 2009
@Brandon
LOL! Classic
#42 by Cedia on June 24th, 2009
Dr. Ray is probably shaking in his boots now. The bell tolls for thee… eventually.
#43 by Raethys on June 24th, 2009
Goddamn there’s always a lot of bashing about WAR around here. It’s a shame to see people who seem to be intelligent defaulting back to that least of all thoughtful assessments that lack of subscribers into the “millions” = fail.
I happen to think WAR is a great game, and that Jacobs and Mythic succeeded largely, and are *still* succeeding largely in what they are/have been trying to do. I happen to think almost everyone on that team is a quality person going up against the damned stupid widespread concept that “MOAR=BETTER” and “IF ITS NOT LIKE WOW, IT SUCKS, AND IF IT DOESN’T BEAT WOW, IT SUCKS”.
WAR isn’t and will never even try to be WoW. I wouldn’t recommend that for anyone, and if all EA cares about is subscriber numbers, then that’s their problem, and it will soon become clear. But if you’re using subscriber numbers alone to say Jacobs and Mythic “failed”, then you’re just as guilty of that same faulty mindset as EA, aren’t you? You’re just endorsing that kind of NUMBERS MEAN EVERYTHING thinking, aren’t you?
Jacobs is a decent guy. Paul Barnett is a decent guy. Jeff Hickman is a decent guy. And Mythic is a decent team. Just like Bioware. Just like Bethesda.
Mergers happen, especially in difficult economic times like these, and very seldom does it have much to do with “failure” or “success”. It just has to do with basic Economics 101 that you consolidate as much as you can when the chips are down and do with less until the overall economy improves. No one likes it, and it’s not any single individual’s fault. When mergers happen, usually it’s the top people who are cut and/or replaced, and that’s what EA is doing right now. It has less to do with “YOUR GAME FAILED HAHAHA” and more to do with “Now is the time to consolidate our resources, and get a little leaner, so that we can get through until the money starts flowing again.” That’s all it is. Mark just happened to be in the wrong position at the wrong time, and quite frankly, I would think that anyone at that level has to wonder just how secure they really are in this kind of economic recession.
I don’t think it’s good news for anyone, but I don’t think it reflects anything at all about the success or failure of Mark, or Mythic, or anyone. It’s business as usual, and sometimes that sucks in times like these for people at all levels.
I just hope at the end of this we’re not just left with WoW and Blizzard… that would be the biggest failure on everyone’s part.
#44 by Jeff on June 24th, 2009
I disagree. Granted, this is Bioware’s first attempt at an MMO, but that aside they have ALWAYS delivered the goods. I can’t say that about any other company. Rolling the gold standard of the Bioware brand into another division would be foolish.
Mythic? They did a nice job with limited fund on DAOC and provided answers to frustrations people were having with EQ. For some reason they seemed scared of making an improved DAOC with a Warhammer IP. Anyone that epic fails as badly as Mark Jacobs and co did on Warhammer deserves to be rolled into another division.
#45 by Arkenor on June 24th, 2009
My liege was ever the prophet. I suspect Mr Jacobs saw the writing on the wall some time ago also.
#46 by Jeff on June 24th, 2009
Warhammer was not a very good game. YOU can like, that’s great, but Warhammer’s perceived failure has little to do with WOW and more to do with:
1.4 million boxes sold and only 200-350k subscribers remining.
Many of the hyped promises were never delivered.
The vaunted end game RvR was broken.
Terrible class balance in RvR.
I could go on and on here, and none of this has to do with WoW. My whole guild went to Warhammer, they had us at hello. A lot of us are old school Warhammer table top players. The game just failed to deliver and was launched too early, plain and simple.
I mean for the love of my great aunt petunia linking item in chat, a fairly standard feature, wasn’t even in the game until months after release.
#47 by geldonyetich on June 24th, 2009
There’s also a bit about EA in Ultima 8. An item known as in Mythran’s house that morphs from Cube to Circle to Triangle.
Double-click on it and the avatar doubles-over from apparent overexertion and then says, “I have not the strength, nor the wisdom to master such power… but one day I shall!”
So I guess by the time Ultima 8 rolled around, those remaining at Origin were at least trying to be proactive in favor of the merger… or that was a completely tongue in cheek jab at their corporate overlords.
#48 by Votan on June 24th, 2009
Raethys even by the standards set out by Jacobs and Mythic themselves in some very famous quotes Warhammer is a failure.
#49 by Jeff on June 24th, 2009
@Raethys
Fact check time. Bioware hits every game out of the park. I don’t need to read a single preview or review before I buy Dragon Age or Mass Effect 2. I KNOW they are going to be that good. I’ll even buy SWTOR based on that faith in their product.
Mythic at best had one decent hit, after that it was one giant swing and a miss.
#50 by wilhelm2451 on June 24th, 2009
A tangential thought: I wonder who holds the record for working for companies that end up being acquired by EA. I know there were some Kesmai people who were there when the company was acquired by EA, were then laid off, and who ended up at Mythic which was, in its turn, acquired by EA. So twice has probably happened enough to be unremarkable. Has anybody been through the grinder three or more times?