I am not sure what to make of this EA Mythic + Bioware merger today. I am excited because I think the merge could mean some experienced talent on the Old Republic MMO but I am not sure what this means for WAR, EA Mythic’s MMO title. On the one hand I think losing Mark Jacobs will be a morale blow to that team but I think working with Bioware could really sharpen that product up as well. Bioware usually brings polish and quality to their products and I am excited to see what this new group will do with their established titles and forthcoming products.
Although I never played Dark Ages of Camelot (DAoC) I recognize that the game was rather successful in it’s time and although still kicking and going is in decline as newer products come to the fore. I recognize that Mark Jacobs played a large part in that initial vision for DAoC and should be respected at least for bringing an influential product to the MMO scene. The game was successful and although not World of Warcraft numbers at the time it was an MMO blockbuster as far as subscriptions go and impact on products that followed.
Having beta-tested WAR I was not too surprised that it’s success, relative to World of Warcraft, was not what EA thought it would be. The game never really hooked me and seemed to emulate much of what Blizzard had done without understanding the why it was done. I do think the game has plenty of legs though and I think it brought some really good ideas to the table that I am sure we will see in future products. I hope that the success of WAR did not affect this departure but I suspect it may have played a role.
I wish him the best of luck and I hope this merge brings good things to us in the future.
Link: http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot
