We told you a couple of weeks ago about Mark Jacobs' departure from EA and the formation of a new (as yet unnamed) studio which will absorb BioWare and Mythic. Well, Eurogamer got the chance to talk to Greg Zeschuk, who has revealed Mythic will help out with Star Wars: The Old Republic but BioWare might not reciprocate on Warhammer Online:
"Ray (Muzyka) and I (have) both played Warhammer, and actually I've still been playing it on and off for a while, so I think for us it's not to much a popularity boost as just the fact that we can probably bring perspectives to the table that will be new and perhaps helpful to the guys from Mythic in the same way from an online perspective they can certainly share with us. To give credit to the Austin team [making Star Wars: The Old Republic], we have a number of serious MMO veterans on there, so it's certainly not neophytes, but there's absolutely opportunities to share and learn things back and forth."
Reader Comments (64)
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:27PM (Unverified) said
"we have a number of serious MMO veterans on there"
I would truly like to take your word for it, but many of us have heard this before and yet developers continue to release games that seem to be created in a vacuum, never learning from the mistakes of their predecessors. Each time it seems as if they have tried to reinvent the wheel while they actually have one they could study in the next room. LEARN from your competition, don't just bluster on about how great your team is, or how wonderful it's going. Learn, improve, implement.
I would truly like to take your word for it, but many of us have heard this before and yet developers continue to release games that seem to be created in a vacuum, never learning from the mistakes of their predecessors. Each time it seems as if they have tried to reinvent the wheel while they actually have one they could study in the next room. LEARN from your competition, don't just bluster on about how great your team is, or how wonderful it's going. Learn, improve, implement.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 10:39PM (Unverified) said
All Blizzard did was reinvent the wheel. WoW was a clone of EQ and DaOC. They cut out a lot of (but not all) the harcore elements, and speed up battle.
I guess Blizzard gets a free pass since their mmo ended up being a fad. It's just the "cool" thing to play, and Blizzard could do no wrong. Well, to us ppl that played WoW before TBC was launched (and even struggled through it's crappy launch and tons of bugs (just like AoC, and War)) we think they can do wrong and did. WoW no, is a shadow of it's former self, that, has been out for almost 5 years now and hasn't evolved like most other mmos have.
Good for Bioware getting some advice from Mythic, considering one of their games was the basis for WoW. But, I hope SW:TOR doesn't turn out to be some crappy quest based system like WoW, DaOC, AoC, War, etc, etc. Once you've played one, you've played them all.
Reply
I guess Blizzard gets a free pass since their mmo ended up being a fad. It's just the "cool" thing to play, and Blizzard could do no wrong. Well, to us ppl that played WoW before TBC was launched (and even struggled through it's crappy launch and tons of bugs (just like AoC, and War)) we think they can do wrong and did. WoW no, is a shadow of it's former self, that, has been out for almost 5 years now and hasn't evolved like most other mmos have.
Good for Bioware getting some advice from Mythic, considering one of their games was the basis for WoW. But, I hope SW:TOR doesn't turn out to be some crappy quest based system like WoW, DaOC, AoC, War, etc, etc. Once you've played one, you've played them all.
Posted: Jul 9th 2009 7:53AM (Unverified) said
Andrew, the fact that you went off on a tear about WoW, in reply to a comment that didn't mention it, attached to a story that didn't mention it, says a lot about you.
Reply
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:27PM MtthwRddl said
No!
Run away SW:TOR! Mythic will consume you!
Run away SW:TOR! Mythic will consume you!
Posted: Jul 11th 2009 10:21PM (Unverified) said
Well, if you read just the quote, you will find what was said proven wrong in both the first and last line:
"we can probably bring perspectives to the table that will be new and perhaps helpful to the guys from Mythic "
and
" but there's absolutely opportunities to share and learn things back and forth.""
This is not Mythic coming over to mess with SW:ToR and bioware not help with WAR. What is the absolute key however, is the entire quotes generic phrasing. It is basic practice, when 1 person/company/etc is placed in charge of another, for the new "boss" to say how it will help both sides grow, but not really mention any hard facts. Notice how he never says anything like, soandso will be coming over from Mythic to lead our server deployment team, etc.
No, this is just a generic required statement so that people don't feel like Bioware is coming to take control over Mythic. It is nothing more than that. Don't worry about Bioware.
Reply
"we can probably bring perspectives to the table that will be new and perhaps helpful to the guys from Mythic "
and
" but there's absolutely opportunities to share and learn things back and forth.""
This is not Mythic coming over to mess with SW:ToR and bioware not help with WAR. What is the absolute key however, is the entire quotes generic phrasing. It is basic practice, when 1 person/company/etc is placed in charge of another, for the new "boss" to say how it will help both sides grow, but not really mention any hard facts. Notice how he never says anything like, soandso will be coming over from Mythic to lead our server deployment team, etc.
No, this is just a generic required statement so that people don't feel like Bioware is coming to take control over Mythic. It is nothing more than that. Don't worry about Bioware.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:27PM Rocky said
Two things... First, I wish it was the other way around. I'd rather see BioWare helping on WAR than Mythic helping on SWTOR. BioWare is the better team and I don't want to see Mythic messing up their game just because EA said they have to.
Secondly, please use fewer links next time. Eight links in two sentences makes the first part of this article VERY hard to read.
Secondly, please use fewer links next time. Eight links in two sentences makes the first part of this article VERY hard to read.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:29PM (Unverified) said
This news will concern a lot of people. Even if they allow Mythic to "help", they are doing themselves a disservice by announcing it publicly.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:44PM (Unverified) said
My thoughts exactly. With the awful impression of them by *MOST* (see that Abrial? most, not all. And it's not a troll, its a fact) MMO followers, why announce this?
First thing I thought was "Well, that's about the exact oppiste of what should happen. Oh... wait... it's EA. That's about right then".
Reply
First thing I thought was "Well, that's about the exact oppiste of what should happen. Oh... wait... it's EA. That's about right then".
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:39PM Miffy said
The thing is bioware are in charge so they control the content and Mythic will just help out making it and they know how to setup servers and the launchers and stuff like that. There are many talented people involved in making games and just because a game turns out to be bad isn't the fault of most of the developers. People in charge and you're stuck into development at an early time, making it impossible to completly change the game if it turns out not to be playing that great cause you have to ship it for money.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:37PM Potajito said
Please don't.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:37PM Lateris said
I wonder what the fallout will be like once TOR peaks out at 350k-450k users after 90 days of its release. I think these are risky decisions and with EA's track record they really don't know how to build a MMORPG for the long run. Maybe I am just being to freaky about it. But EA reminds me of SOE. And that concerns me as a customer and a MMORPG fan.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 10:45PM (Unverified) said
Honestly, it doesn't really matter. What's gonna happen is that it will fail upon launch just like War and AoC. Not because it's a bad game, but because WoW fanboys will go and try the game, then leave it and bitch, and word of mouth will spread that it is terrible..etc..etc. They will also complain about bugs, lack of endgame, blah, blah, blah.
Sadly, these same fanboys didn't play WoW at launch, which, was just as crappy as any other mmo launch. Lots of bugs, lots of class balance issues, not much endgame at all....etc.
Over a million copies will sell, and then the sub rate will be around 500k. FFXIV will probably do the same, except, SE isn't arrogant enough to expect 5 million subs. They still have a top notch mmo in FFXI that has 500k subs (which, is more than AoC, War, Lotro, EQ2, EQ, DaOC, etc). 500k, is a pretty nice income, and not every mmo can become part of the pop culture of a generation like WoW did.
Reply
Sadly, these same fanboys didn't play WoW at launch, which, was just as crappy as any other mmo launch. Lots of bugs, lots of class balance issues, not much endgame at all....etc.
Over a million copies will sell, and then the sub rate will be around 500k. FFXIV will probably do the same, except, SE isn't arrogant enough to expect 5 million subs. They still have a top notch mmo in FFXI that has 500k subs (which, is more than AoC, War, Lotro, EQ2, EQ, DaOC, etc). 500k, is a pretty nice income, and not every mmo can become part of the pop culture of a generation like WoW did.
Posted: Jul 9th 2009 7:56AM (Unverified) said
Just keep on pretending that there's some magical force out there which inexplicably made the allegedly terrible WoW the hugest success in history, whilst every other equally terrible game crashed and burned. I'm sure it was magic. It couldn't possibly be that a bunch of people like something that you don't. Or maybe brainwashing. Or drugs.
Reply
Posted: Jul 9th 2009 9:16AM (Unverified) said
What Andrew said...
WoW has reached such a critical mass that expectations of 'perfection' (ie; perception from the masses point of view) on release always fall short, despite the fact that WoW was bugged at release too, just like all the other mmos.
Reply
WoW has reached such a critical mass that expectations of 'perfection' (ie; perception from the masses point of view) on release always fall short, despite the fact that WoW was bugged at release too, just like all the other mmos.
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 1:56PM Pewpdaddy said
I concur with most of you, if Mythic is going to help they should have kept it quite. The last game I can think of that was overhyped was WAR. So they hype this one to the roof then announce that Mythic is going to "help". Someone fire EA lol... Bad marketing there IMO. I have my fingers crossed for TOR I really think it can be something substantial its really a great IP. But I mean hey so was WAR lol ....
Posted: Jul 8th 2009 2:15PM (Unverified) said
Why do so many people type "lol" at random times during their comments? It's rather annoying, especially when it's out of place.
I think that Mythic has done a fine job overall with the game, but they failed to differentiate enough from WoW. It even *looks* like WoW in just about every aspect. Sure, the RvR thing is nice, but it's just too much of the same to really draw in new players.
Now that their servers have stabilized a bit, they could certainly assist with server technology. I think people rag on MMO developers too much. These games require a huge collection of technology, and every little bit of assistance helps. No point in reinventing the wheel in every aspect of your game.
Reply
I think that Mythic has done a fine job overall with the game, but they failed to differentiate enough from WoW. It even *looks* like WoW in just about every aspect. Sure, the RvR thing is nice, but it's just too much of the same to really draw in new players.
Now that their servers have stabilized a bit, they could certainly assist with server technology. I think people rag on MMO developers too much. These games require a huge collection of technology, and every little bit of assistance helps. No point in reinventing the wheel in every aspect of your game.
Featured Stories
Massively surveys WildStar's Scientist and Settler paths, the Esper class, and the crazy things Jeremy Gaffney says
Posted on May 22nd 2013 1:00AM








