Ever since World of Warcraft was released by Vivendi, EA has looked on in envy as the genre has expanded and racked in millions of dollars for Vivendi, whose game has gone on to become a best-seller and expand the online gaming market, especially for Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs (MMORPG).
So now EA has gotten more serious as they’ve just acquired (that is, bought out) Mythic Entertainment. Details on the buy-out weren’t released but EA did say that the new studio, now called EA Mythic, will focus on creating MMO’s for the publisher.
Mythic is best known for its Dark Age of Camelot series, the medieval-themed MMORPG that first hit the market in 2001. It has since secured the license to make an MMORPG based on the Warhammer series, called Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The game is scheduled to hit PCs in late 2007, and it did not have a publisher before today.
The new upcoming Warhammer MMORPG has also been rumored to be coming to the Xbox 360 since Mythic showed the game running on a 360 at E3. So this new acquisition by EA could be a double-whammy by letting them obtain a foothold in both the console and PC gaming markets if the game is indeed released for consoles. Other MMO’s would likely follow. EA is already contemplating bringing some upcoming RTS games to the console market (The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II is coming to the 360 and the newest Command & Conquer title, C&C: Tiberium Wars, may be headed to the 360 as well) so MMO’s on consoles would be a natural extension.
“Everyone’s salivating at the cash VUG is generating,” said Parks Associates’ Michael Cai, who added, “It’s all part of portfolio diversification efforts, similar to the [mobile publisher] Jamdat acquisition.” Cai also said the buyout was also part of a “geographical diversification effort.” “EA wants to get more revenue out of Asia and online gaming is the way to go,” he said.
However, just because EA has bought Mythic doesn’t mean it will make hundreds of millions of dollars off RPGs. “EA does not equal success,” said Cai, “They’ve had their share of failures in the online gaming space like Sims Online, Earth and Beyond, and Motor City Online. They definitely want to try, though.”
EA’s Mythic Entertainment acquisition is expected to be finalized during EA’s second quarter of its 2007 fiscal year, which runs from July to September 2006.