Today, EA announced that it has shuttered Mythic Entertainment. The studio originally created the MMO
Dark Age of Camelot before being acquired by EA during development of
Warhammer Online. Most recently, it developed the controversial
Dungeon Keeper reboot for smartphones.
EA provided this statement to Gamasutra regarding the studio's closure:
"We are closing the EA Mythic location in Fairfax, Virginia, as we concentrate mobile development in our other studio locations. We are working with all impacted employees to provide assistance in finding new opportunities, either within EA or with other companies via an upcoming job fair."
It is unclear how many staffers were affected. EA's spokesperson said it is company policy not to disclose headcount for studios or teams.
Mythic Entertainment released the early 2000s MMO hit
Dark Age of Camelot;
EA acquired the studio in 2006, as it worked on
Warhammer Online. That game
shut down late last year.
Most recently, the studio had developed mobile titles for EA, including
Ultima Forever and
Dungeon Keeper -- the latter of which
was highly controversial.
As well as
Dark Age of Camelot, Mythic had also shepherded
Ultima Online after EA shuttered its original developer, Origin. Those games' maintenance
was passed on to Mythic co-founder Rob Denton's Broadsword Online Games this February. Service for
Dungeon Keeper will be transitioning to another team, EA's spokesperson confirmed.