Sad? He sold his company to EA, he was smiling like he had won the lottery - you make a deal with the devil and you take their money then you deserve what you get. Eff him. Maybe other people will be less reluctant to bend over for EA, I doubt it though, money corrupts all.

Leshrac hit the nail on the head. After sinking 25 million into Imperator and owing close to 40 million to investors, Mythic simply couldn't afford to make a triple-A MMO out of Warhammer. Along comes EA, one in a long line of companies that was looking at Mythic, and Jacobs made a fortune. He was giddy-rich and rolling the cash after the sale -- all the original Mythic dudes were. Now Warhammer has a huge budget. The problem was, Jacobs was still in charge of the thing, and here's the secret: He doesn't know how to make games.
It's like this -- all Mythic had to do to make Warhammer successful was to make DAoC2 skinned as Warhammer. Instead, Jacobs chose to ignore the things that made DAoC successful and try to create something new. What he forgot (and the thing EA didn't realize when they bought Mythic) is that he had gotten lucky with DAoC and he didn't really know how to repeat his success. Combine that with his unyielding lack of trust in his development staff, and you have a genuine clusterf**k. There were many times when WAR almost went the way of Imperator (read: dying on the vine). The only thing that saved that project was Paul Barnett (yes, I know he is a media whore, but he kept Jacobs from totally screwing up the game).
Don't feel bad for Jacobs. He uses one hundred dollar bills as toilet paper. Don't feel bad for Mythic -- they finally have a chance to make cool games. Who knows, maybe EA will greenlight DAoC2.

I have to agree with you Uninvited. I think most people tend to "damn" Barnett the most, but in reality I feel like he was the one who actually had a good grip on what we want in an MMO. If you've heard him actually talk about game mechanics you can tell he's a pretty smart guy.

I do think Jacobs screwed up WAR. It's a pity he had to lose his job, but that's what happens...

I wonder if you realise are primarily a game PUBLISHER? Not developer? Sure, they give out deadlines (shitty deadlines) but ultimately they're not the ONLY people to blame for a shitty game.

I hate EA as much as the next person and was like "OH GOD NO" when I heard BioWare sold out but guess what? EA being idiots doesn't make them the bloody devil, and Mythic and other companies selling out? So what? It's there fucking company, they can do what they bloody want.

Plenty of decent games have come out of the big monopolising corporations (such as EA and Activision, to name a few, I'd put Eidos and Take2 in their too personally). Just cause YOU don't like something does that mean EVERYONE ELSE will hate it too?