Well that's that then (Mark Jacobs leaves EA)

[fuser]

Meanwhile Paul is off in Quebec talking to other EA creative directors. 

[Morfiend]

Like I said, it's classic EA. But I'm not painting them a villain at all in this scenario. Mythic are the ones that screwed the pooch.

EA is a villain in the saw way that a wild snake is a villain. Its just their nature.

[IainC]

I didn't call EA bad. I just called it classic EA. You think any part of Bioware wanted a piece of Mythic? You think Mythic wanted to make the UO shit? None of the involved parties wanted any of that. Like I said, it's classic EA. But I'm not painting them a villain at all in this scenario. Mythic are the ones that screwed the pooch.

I never said you did. If you note, my original comment was aimed at the posters on Brokentoys.

[Modern Angel]

EA is a villain in the saw way that a wild snake is a villain. Its just their nature.

This is very apt

[schild]

Like I said, it's classic EA. But I'm not painting them a villain at all in this scenario. Mythic are the ones that screwed the pooch.

EA is a villain in the saw way that a wild snake is a villain. Its just their nature.

Scorpion, not snake.

[Nefar]

I've been sober for over a year now. With this wonderful news I think I'm going to break my dry spell and head right on out to the liquor store....

Jacobs is gone..

/dance

[Shatter]

Too late for WHO IMO.  I know so many people in game today that fully plan to hop onto Aion when it comes live, they had a year and they wasted it.  They would have to come up with some miracle fixes, nothing short of Jesus himself to fix this game before that happens. 

[Modern Angel]

Jesus wasn't a particularly good coder but MAN could he dance!

[Soln]

Barnett needs to go.  MJ had to go because he couldn't make his numbers.  

I have no axe against MJ.  

I would like to see Barnett die in an electrical fire.  Slowly.  Just so all those 3-star people he loved to bully could watch him on the way down.

[Ashamanchill]

Meanwhile Paul is off in Quebec talking to other EA creative directors. 

Paul you fuck, never mention, travel to, or associate with with Canada again.

[palmer_eldritch]

. . .  I figured they'd just kill all of Mythic

They've pretty much done this, based on that statement. It's not a merger, it's killing off Mythic while keeping at least one Mythic guy they presumably like, and presenting it to the world in a positive way.

[sam, an eggplant]

The statement neither says nor implies anything of the kind. They fired Jacobs and merged Mythic with Bioware, under Bioware's leadership. That doesn't mean the WAR live team was disbanded, the game put in maintenance mode, or anything of the kind. It doesn't mean it wasn't, either.

Obviously they have had several rounds of layoffs recently, and it doesn't make much sense to have mythic in northern virginia with bioware's MMO studio in austin, so it doesn't take nostradamusHRose to predict that more layoffs and relocations are in the cards. But if the decision has been made to put WAR to rest, it's not obvious to an external observer.

[IainC]

The statement neither says nor implies anything of the kind. They fired Jacobs and merged Mythic with Bioware, under Bioware's leadership. That doesn't mean the WAR live team was disbanded, the game put in maintenance mode, or anything of the kind. It doesn't mean it wasn't, either.

Obviously they have had several rounds of layoffs recently, and it doesn't make much sense to have mythic in northern virginia with bioware's MMO studio in austin, so it doesn't take nostradamusHRose to predict that more layoffs and relocations are in the cards. But if the decision has been made to put WAR to rest, it's not obvious to an external observer.

I just had a clarification about this. Mythic are not merging with BioWare, they will remain separate studios and presumably remain in their current, separate locations. The two studios will comprise the membership of an MMO/RPG group within EA to share resources etc but they aren't being reduced to a single entity.

[Lum]

I would like to see Barnett die in an electrical fire.  Slowly.  Just so all those 3-star people he loved to bully could watch him on the way down.

Public intemperate quotes aside, everyone I've talked to (I never worked with him directly, having been burned at the stake prior to Warhammer's development) that has worked with him does not paint him as a bully at all.

[schild]

I would like to see Barnett die in an electrical fire.  Slowly.  Just so all those 3-star people he loved to bully could watch him on the way down.

Public intemperate quotes aside, everyone I've talked to (I never worked with him directly, having been burned at the stake prior to Warhammer's development) that has worked with him does not paint him as a bully at all.

But but, he rides a pale horse.

[Arthur_Parker]

Paul's Video Blog

Zero June videos, I don't think Paul will go, but I imagine he's distancing himself from WAR.

[HaemishM]

I know it's not quite right to laugh at someone for getting fired, but here goes.  Bahahaha.  At this point, WAR has gotten to the level of naked pointing and chuckling that I keep expecting Ashton Kutcher to jump out, telling all the fans that they've been punk'd.

Fired, yes. But I'm pretty sure you don't need to weep for Mark Jacobs. The EA purchase of Mythic probably netted him a decent sum plus a nice golden (or at least silver) parachute. His game sucked balls, and he was too pig-headed to listen. Oh, and he not only hired Barnett, he continued to allow Barnett to speak to the public after it was proven over and over again that that was the last place Barnett should ever be allowed to speak.

[Sjofn]

God, it would be awesome if Barnett covered his ass by making a youtube video where he threw Mark under the bus. I mean, Mark doesn't deserve that, but I'm pretty sure Barnett is just high enough on the shit-weasel quotient to do it.

Oh. My. God. I will now be disappointed if this DOESN'T happen.

I feel at least a little sorry for Mark Jacobs, just because Mythic was his, and now it is not, and I assume he's fucking devastated. I may think he was clueless about a lot of game stuff, I may find it endlessly hilarious about how he doesn't get the internet, but I still gotta feel bad for the guy.

EDIT: Wait, I totally forgot how he was a douchebag about the prior layoffs. Nevermind, sympathy revoked!

[Felgercarb]

People, this was all written in the cards. Now Garriot, McQuaid, and Jacobs get together to form Truimverate studios to make the end all be all MMO. It should release around the end of 2012, at least thats what the Mayans say.

[Ingmar]

People, this was all written in the cards. Now Garriot, McQuaid, and Jacobs get together to form Truimverate studios to make the end all be all MMO. It should release around the end of 2012, at least thats what the Mayans say.

Triumvirate Studios would be a great name for the company who will finally give us Imperator!

[Ashamanchill]

People, this was all written in the cards. Now Garriot, McQuaid, and Jacobs get together to form Truimverate studios to make the end all be all MMO. It should release around the end of 2012, at least thats what the Mayans say.

With Godager's nose pressed up against the screen door saying, 'can I join guys?"

[fuser]

Schild, with the recent events this rekindle any hope of a interview with Mr Jacobs?

[Arthur_Parker]

http://www.massively.com/2009/06/24/mythic-employees-shocked-at-mark-jacobs-departure/

"People are shocked and in disbelief about Mark leaving," said the former staffer. "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."
...
As for the rest of the staff at Mythic, the former employee had heard from within the company that they were told about the structural changes early this morning in small groups. They were assured that no one was losing their jobs and the studios were not converging. According to our source, the entire 300-person company is being taken out to a movie theater, something that Jacobs used to do several times a year, where Muzyka will address them this afternoon.

"Is anyone freaking out? Actually, no," they said. "I guess it was also because [Jacobs] has been on sabbatical for over a month. No one had seen him in a long time, so people already had it in their minds that he was probably going away."
...
I asked if Jacobs' departure might have anything to do with Warhammer Online's subscriber numbers. EA announced that the game had 300,000 subscribers earlier this year. While the number is still impressive for a new MMO, the number was below EA's expectations and down from 500,000 at launch.

"The numbers aren't that bad, and last I heard the numbers were back on the rise," they revealed. "If you get half a million subscriptions out of it, you're making your money back. I know the game was making money."

There's more on the link.

[sam, an eggplant]

I just had a clarification about this. Mythic are not merging with BioWare, they will remain separate studios and presumably remain in their current, separate locations.

Umm, yeah. It's EA, remember? They don't do it all at once. I'll be sure to link back to this post in six months when everybody at mythic is either fired or relocated to austin, edmonton, or redwood city. The NoVa office's days are numbered.

[WindupAtheist]

You must be kidding. They have to know of, well, any of the BioWare titles. Even if you don't like them.

They thought BioWare made Bioshock. I am not joking.

[Righ]

I'm going to bet they keep a skeleton crew to keep WAR on life support for ~1-2years, once SWTOR hits closed/open beta offer any remaining subs free month of SWOTR + swag (beta invite, items, etc) then shutter WAR.

It's Electronic Arts. They don't believe in skeleton crews. The servers will be turned off amid much fan backlash right after the next major content patch. It's what they do.

[Zane0]

Perhaps this is the start (midpoint?) of Bioware's death as a creative entity.

...

Meh.

[01101010]

I just had a clarification about this. Mythic are not merging with BioWare, they will remain separate studios and presumably remain in their current, separate locations. The two studios will comprise the membership of an MMO/RPG group within EA to share resources etc but they aren't being reduced to a single entity.

So they are slowly turning off the water rather than just lopping off the dead weight. Makes sense, milk the game till the final death throes and then bury it. I am thinking in the world of MMOs, Star Wars > WAR.

[Trippy]

I'm going to bet they keep a skeleton crew to keep WAR on life support for ~1-2years, once SWTOR hits closed/open beta offer any remaining subs free month of SWOTR + swag (beta invite, items, etc) then shutter WAR.

It's Electronic Arts. They don't believe in skeleton crews. The servers will be turned off amid much fan backlash right after the next major content patch. It's what they do.

UO.

[schild]

Schild, with the recent events this rekindle any hope of a interview with Mr Jacobs?

No, there's no reason for one. We know the whole story here, and while putting egos on display is fun, I'm not entirely sure Mark deserves it. Paul might, but I don't think I could talk to him without making fun of his mother, asking him to put his wang in a blender and then proceeding to pull his shirt over his head and teach him some etiquette with the business end of my shoe.

[Morfiend]

They could mash WAR and SWTOR together and call it Warhammer40k.

[Fordel]

But who will write 10 pages that say absolutely nothing now? 

[sam, an eggplant]

Or just continue development on WAR, which at 500k accounts is certainly further in the red than they had anticipated given their investment but far from valueless. It is possible to steadily grow a MMO without that initial EQ1/WoW-style population explosion; EVE online did it. You can live in the MMO space without competing at WoW's level.

It's all academic anyway, nobody's shutting down a MMO with 500k accounts. Assuming they really have 500k accounts.

[NiX]

Perhaps this is the start (midpoint?) of Bioware's death as a creative entity.

...

Meh.

Hi!


Wat?

[Trippy]

But who will write 10 pages that say absolutely nothing now? 

Paul has proven himself very capable of doing that.