Mythic

Mythic was a game development studio based in Fairfax, Virginia (USA). It was recognized for its massively multiplayer online role-playing games and it was a subsidiary of Electronic Arts before its closure.

The company was initially founded in 1995 as Interworld Productions by Mark Jacobs and Rob Denton.

Both of them already had a long history in online game development at that time. Mark Jacobs founded Adventures Unlimited Software in 1984, responsible for commercial online RPGs such as Aradath launched that year (with a monthly subscription fee), and online versions of Dragon's Gate (1985) and Diplomacy. Rob Denton previously co-founded Interesting Systems in 1990 and was responsible for the multi-user BBS text-based RPG Darkness Falls (initially released in 1991 as Tempest). Much of the game code would later serve for the Mythic game Dark Age of Camelot. Many of the original developers of the individual companies eventually ending up working for Mythic.

The company name Interworld Productions was changed to Mythic Entertainment in November 1997 when it was found out there was already another Interworld. Mythic was very prolific with the releases of online games in the mid to late nineties. The studio was responsible for Castles II Online (1995), Rolemaster: Magestorm (1996), Invasion Earth (1997), Rolemaster: Bladelands (1997), Silent Death: Online (1997), Splatterball (1997), Aliens Online (1998), Godzilla Online (1998), Starship Troopers: Battlespace (1998), Darkness Falls: The Crusade (1999), Darkstorm: The Well of Souls (1999), Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict (1999) and Independence Day Online (2000). They covered a wide variety of genres, ranging from regular RPGs to space-based battles and team-based first-person shooters. Some of these were developed in cooperation with other companies (such as Centropolis) and were often only available to US players, through AOL or the GameStorm service, owned by Kesmai Corporation.

The studio's real breakthrough title was the fantasy MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot based on the story of King Arthur. Development was started in 1999. In 2000 the company was financially backed by Abandon Entertainment and the title was released in 2001, with Anarchy Online, Ultima Online and EverQuest as its main competitors. It was the studio's first MMOG (massively multiplayer online game). Previous titles were all played in smaller teams or squads. The game is still maintained today and it received numerous expansions over the years.

Following the release Mythic started work on a new game in 2002, Imperator Online. It was based on an alternate history where the Roman Republic never disappeared and eventually evolved into an empire covering multiple planets and with access to space travel. The project was eventually cancelled in 2005.

In June 2006 Mythic Entertainment was acquired by Electronic Arts, which had no MMORPG division at the time, and renamed EA Mythic. The studio would, among else, maintain and develop new content for Ultima Online. After an internal restructuring the company's name was changed back to Mythic Entertainment in July 2008. In an interview that month Mark Jacobs explained that the name was changed back because of an open attitude EA had taken to the development studios it owned at the time.

Mythic's next title was the fantasy MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, based on the popular Warhammer universe. It was launched in September 2009.

The year before, in January 2008, EA had also acquired the acclaimed (offline) RPG development studio BioWare Corporation and on 24 June 2009 it was announced EA would restructure both Mythic and BioWare as a single RPG/MMO division headed by BioWare General Manager Ray Muzyka. Mythic general manager and co-founder Mark Jacobs had resigned the day before and was replaced by Rob Denton. By June 2010 the company was renamed BioWare Mythic and eventually completely integrated into the main BioWare RPG group.

The studio name returned as a developer of mobile games, first the free-to-play action RPG Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar for iOS in August 2013 followed by the free-to-play game Dungeon Keeper in December 2013. On 29 May 2014, it was reported parent company Electronic Arts closed the division. Work on mobile titles was relocated to other studios, while some former Mythic staff would establish Broadsword Online Games, to which the maintenance of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot were transferred under license from EA.