EA Ready To Finalise Mythic Acquisition News
Jon Wilcox
21/06/2006
Electronic Arts identifies its path into the world of MMOs with the acquisition of Mythic Entertainment...
Electronic Arts has today confirmed that it's in the final stages of acquiring Dark Age of Camelot developers, Mythic Entertainment. The deal, which is set for completion between July and September 2006 (or the second quarter of EA's 2007 fiscal year for all you business-minded people), will see the Virginia based studio rebranded as EA Mythic.
Currently working on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning for French based publisher GOA, Mythic will be the MMORPG arm of the EA empire with all 175 staff members retaining their positions on the east coast of the US. EA confirmed that the two co-founders of Mythic, CEO Mark Jacobs and COO Rob Denton, will have a change of job title to Vice President, General Manager of EA Mythic and Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of EA Mythic respectively.
"Mythic has always been a leading independent developer in the online space," says Mark Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Mythic Entertainment. "EA's commitment to the online market as well as its focus on creating games of unsurpassed quality, scope and scale gives us opportunities and resources we could only dream about in the past."
"The addition of Mythic to the EA family reflects our deep commitment to the online gaming market worldwide. Mythic will bring one of the industry's most talented MMORPG teams to EA. Together, we will create games that will introduce MMO players to a whole new level of game play and excitement," said Paul Lee, President, EA Studios.
EA's tactic of getting a slice of the MMO pie by purchasing a studio already well-versed in the perils and pitfalls of the genre, is certainly one way of securing a solid foundation into the tumultuous sector. That said, there are sure to be others out there who will see the move as another example of Electronic Arts steam-rolling their way through acquisitions as they continue to consolidate their position as the biggest developer/publisher in the industry.
One thing's for sure, it'll be interesting to see how much control EA Mythic will have in moulding future titles for Electronic Arts...will they be expected to deliver annual instalments?
We'll have more news shortly...