Tag Archives: mark jacobs

Ex-Mythic boss Mark Jacobs left the company two years ago because he didn’t agree with the course of direction the company was about to take under its then new owners EA, the man himself has said.

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Former Mythic CEO Mark Jacobs has returned after a two-year sabbatical from the industry with casual game firm City State Entertainment.

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An anonymous developer calling himself EA Louse and claiming to be part of the Warhammer Online team at Mythic has said on his blog that EA’s not only planning another round of lay-offs next month, but that the company has already spent around $300 million creating The Old Republic MMO.

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BioWare co-head Greg Zeschuk has told Eurogamer that BioWare and Mythic are still two different entities, despite being pulled together into one EA group under Ray Muzyka’s leadership.

“There absolutely is still BioWare and Mythic, we’re not merged at all,” he said, speaking in London last week.

“That’s kind of how it all works. Ray and I, we’ve never operated by telling people what to do, that’s one of the reasons why we have great games: we don’t tell our team how to build Dragon Age. We say, ‘Here are the goals,’ and they go and figure out how they want it to work.”

It was announced last month that Mythic boss Mark Jacobs would be departing the developer, and that Muzyka would be assuming control of the new division.

Mark Jacobs has written a farewell of sorts to fans and former colleagues via his blog, Games are a Niche Market.

The former head of Mythic explains his departure and talks a bit about the changes at the company he co-founded with Rob Denton.

“Early in May, Electronic Arts let me know that they wanted to make some changes within the Games Label and as a result of those changes I have been out of the office (and out of touch with the team, game, etc.) since that day,” he wrote.

“If you are looking or expecting me to damn EA or anyone there, you will be sorely disappointed. Over my 23 years of making games professionally I have refrained from attacking the competition, former and/or current partners, other game developers, etc. except on a few very rare instances.

“I have no intention of breaking with tradition at the present time and I hope my track record in this regard remains unchanged for the rest of my career.”

You can read the full thing through here.

Via MMORPG.

Mythic staff are apparently reeling from the news that company boss Mark Jacobs has left the building.

“People are shocked and in disbelief about Mark leaving,” a former employee told Massively.

“But they’re also excited to be working with BioWare. I can’t even fathom Mark leaving a company he loved so much, it was his life.

“Personally, I can’t see that this is voluntary in any shape or form.”

It was announced last night that Jacobs had left the company, with BioWare bosses Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk now in control of a newly-formed MMO-RPG EA group.

Heavy stuff. Check Massively for more.

Warhammer Online developer Mythic’s confirmed that well-known studio head Mark Jacobs has left his role.

EA has formed a new MMO and RPG division, to be headed by BioWare boss Ray Muzyka.

BioWare’s other co-founder, Greg Zeschuk, will become Group Creative Officer of the new division.

“We thank Mark for his contributions at Mythic and wish him the very best going forward,” said Mythic in a statement.

“Mark played a major part in the success of Mythic with his contribution as General Manager and Lead Designer of WAR.”

His the link for the full thing.

Warhammer Online’s Taiwanese beta’s to go live on April 14, according to this press release.

“Since day one, it’s been our goal to make the Age of Reckoning a global phenomenon,” said Mythic boss Mark Jacobs.

“The closed beta in Taiwan brings more players around the world the chance to answer one very simple question: who do you fight for – Order or Destruction?”

Should bump the game’s figures up a bit. We hope.

Full thing through the link.

Mythic’s confirmed Warhammer Online’s to get its own forum, to be run by the developer.

There’s a large post from Mark Jacobs on the matter on the official site. Apparently this is the first Mythic game to get a properly hosted forum.

Mythic boss Mark Jacobs has essentially confirmed the EA-owned developer has seen some lay-offs as part of the publisher’s cost-saving plan.

Said the exec, speaking in a forum post on Warhammer Alliance:

1) Our CEO JR has publicly stated the need to cut costs across all of EA. This statement is old news and applies all throughout EA.

2) As part of EA, all studios are expected to do their fair share to meet the expectations of our CEO.”

EA declined to comment to VG247 on the subject this afternoon.

Joystiq rumoured last night that Mythic had shed 21 customer service staff.

Jacobs points out later in the post that more than 400 people were working on Warhammer Online – the firm’s ongoing MMO – at launch, and that a large team still remains on the game.

EA is currently in the throes of dropping 1,000 staff in an effort to cut costs.

In an interview with Ten Ton Hammer, Mythic boss Mark Jacobs said that he welcomes Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO and has a profound respect for the BioWare team.

“I obviously know what the title is – and have known for quite awhile,” he said (interview was conducted before Star Wars: TOR announcement.

“You’ve got a great bunch of guys working on this title. My respect for Bioware runs VERY deep. I’ve said this before in a number of interviews that they are absolutely one of the premiere developers in the industry.

“I have also gotten to know Ray and Greg better since they’ve been a part of EA and my respect for them has only grown,” added Jakobs.

“I think that given their expertise and talent – and all the guys that are involved with it, whether they’re in the North or South studio – I think the game is going to be a good thing no matter what they announce it as being.

In this industry, we need more successful games,” he explained. “The more successes we can have, the more the industry will expand. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a fantasy, sci-fi, horror, or whatever they are, we need more successful titles period. I really look forward to what they’re working on.”

More Mark Jakobs through the link. Thanks, Blue.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking with GI, Mythic boss Mark Jacobs said that the changes to player-versus-player combat in World of Warcraft are taken directly from the changes made to Warhammer Online.

“You have a game that’s been out for four years, they’ve never put in world PVP like ours, they’ve never been able to level through PVP like in ours,” said Jacobs

“I think it’s absolutely a reaction to Warhammer. It wasn’t like all of a sudden the idea of open world PVP or levelling through PVP came into their heads and went ‘nobody’s ever done this before’.”

However, Jacobs wasn’t upset about it at all. “I think imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” he added.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Mythic’s just put out a press release claiming Warhammer Online now has 750,000 registered players.

“Thanks to our players, the war between the Realms continues to escalate at an incredible pace,” said company boss Mark Jacobs. “The battlefields are alive with three quarters of a million players fighting for the forces of Order and Destruction in truly epic and unparalleled Realm vs. Realm battles!”

The developer said that more than 500,000 players had signed up for the game in the first week of launch, as reported at the end of September.

Full thing after the link.

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Mythic’s confirmed that more than 500,000 players have created WAR accounts, and is claiming the MMO to be the fastest growing in history.

“In just one week we have a half a million people playing WAR online, and the ranks of Order and Destruction are growing at a record-breaking pace for a new MMORPG,” said company head Mark Jacobs.

“We spent years working to provide players with the most stable, epic, and polished online world we could, but it is the players that have truly brought the Age of Reckoning to life.”

If you haven’t got involved yet, do. It’s a great game, no question. Half a million people can’t be wrong, right?

More Mark Jacobs this morning, this time from an interview with MMORPG.com. WAR isn’t the game EA wanted to make, apparently: it’s Mythic’s.

“In the end we got to make the game that we wanted,” he said. “Not that game that EA wanted, not the game that Blizzard wanted, it’s the game that we wanted.

“We got two delays out of it with EA where we said, ‘we need to delay it again’. EA didn’t rush us out the door. They could have said to us in June, ‘no guys, you’ve gotta ship it, patch it afterwards.’ They didn’t. And I don’t mean that I threatened so they didn’t, they never said that.”

More through the link. Thanks, Destructoid.

Mythic head Mark Jacobs isn’t frightened of anything. No sir. And World or Warcraft definitely doesn’t bring on the sweats.

“We’re not saying we’re going to beat [Blizzard], but we’re not afraid of them,” Jacobs told Gamasutra.

“We have our own hook; that’s [realm versus realm combat], and we’re pushing it and we’re pushing it, just as we’re pushing other innovations in the game. Blizzard is number one; we don’t mind being number two, especially if it’s a competitive number two.”

Played it yet? You should. More through the link.

Mythic boss Mark Jacobs has confirmed that content cut from the launch of Warhammer Online – namely character classes and capital cities – is to be reintroduced at a later date as part of the subscription charge.

“Are we going to put [the pulled content] in a paid expansion? No,” Jacobs told 1UP.

“What I’ve told the users point blank is that we want to give it to you as part of subscription content. We don’t have a schedule penciled in for when that will be coming, but we’re going to release it without any additional charge to players.”

More through the link.

Undecided? Mythic boss Mark Jacobs isn’t. Warhammer Online has now launched and he reckons World of Warcraft players should try it. Here’s why, courtesy of MTV:

If you’re looking for the best RvR [Realm vs. Realm] in any online game, you come to “Warhammer.” This is what we do well. This is the most core reason to play our game. If you’re looking for the latest and greatest RvR of any MMO, you come to play our game.

Our number-one focus is RvR, but we have spent so much time and resources on PvE [Player vs. Environment]. We’ve put so many things in there, that if you’re a casual player you should come here. One of the things that certain games have done — and we won’t mention names — is that they’re trying to go back to an old school, we-want-people-to-work-harder-to-level [style of gameplay] and make it less fun. No, we’re not going to do that. We want you to have fun in our game, and we want you to feel like you can accomplish something. You won’t come in and go, “If I can’t get four hours in straight, I’m going to feel awful.”

There’s more reasoning through there. Loads more. Mark can talk. We’re installing WAR right now. Are you?

Speaking to Gamespot, Mythic boss Mark Jacobs has said he sees the recent Ensemble closure as a “terrible thing,” but that his studio has been careful to guard against “mistakes.”

“I look at Ensemble closing as being a terrible thing,” he said. “I love their games. But it should be no more of a message, I think, to the development community than an external developer shutting down because they ran out of money. And [there's] an old cliche about those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it. But if you look at the history of developers, even successful ones, a lot of them that do get shut down have forgotten the lessons–that nothing lasts forever, and you are going to screw up no matter how smart you are.

“You’re going to screw up, and if you haven’t prepared for that day, you’re going to be in deep trouble. And we will always prepare for that day. Maybe I’m paranoid or just very cynical, but I believe we will make more mistakes going forward, and we prepare for that day. And if you’re going to do that and you have success and you still remember that, you’ll be OK. You can weather a storm or two.”

Lots more through there. Well worth a read. WAR, as if you didn’t know, is out today.

Following a comment yesterday from WAR creative director Paul Barnett regarding EA knowing “nothing about launching MMOs in Europe,” Mythic boss Mark Jacobs has clarified the situation by calling Barnett “sarcastic” and “irreverent.”

“Well first you’ve got to understand that Paul is Paul,” Jacobs told Eurogamer. “He’s very sarcastic. He tries to be very funny – he usually is. He can be a bit irreverent. And so you need to look at anything he said in the interview from that perspective.

“Second, in terms of GOA: we had done a deal with GOA before EA bought us. So the idea that we went with GOA because supposedly EA doesn’t know anything about doing online games is just not true. There was no EA in the picture. So that was one part of it.

“What Paul said about EA not knowing anything about launching MMOs: you know, Paul likes to exaggerate – of course EA knows things about launching MMOs. EA is responsible, certainly, for one of the most important MMOs of all time, and that was Ultima [Online]. And that had people in Europe playing, people in Japan playing – it was really the first MMO to have any success in Japan. And it was the first one to break 100,000 subs.”

Loads more through there. WAR launches tomorrow. Order or Destruction? The million dollar question.