'Warhammer Online' Delayed Till Q2 2008
Development of Warhammer MMO Hits Another Bump
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182177.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6182177
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EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has been delayed once again. The MMORPG based on the tabletop game series from Games Workshop was delayed as part of Electronic Arts' second-quarter earnings call yesterday to Q2 2008 or the first quarter of EA's 2009 fiscal year.
The delay comes only a week after reported layoffs and restructuring taking place at EA Mythic and Redwood Shores Studios that were later confirmed by EA. EA Mythic's General Manager Mark Jacobs had the following to say about the delay: "The short answer would be that it's hard to make this kind of game. Now, for a more detailed answer. It really boils down to this: Our game is going to live and die by two things. One is realm-versus-realm (RvR) gameplay. The second is overall quality. This is not 1999, 1997, or even 2001. This is 2007. We have to be able to release a game that, in terms of quality, without even going into game systems or RvR, is top-notch. We've seen too many games in this industry, and in this space, release without that, and we're not going to do that."
The idea of a Warhammer MMORPG has had a long and bumpy road since it was originally conceived in 2000 by Climax and Microsoft. The game was dropped by Microsoft and later canceled by Climax after they failed to secure a publisher and ran out of money in 2004. The next summer the folks at then Mythic Entertainment, makers of the Dark Age of Camelot franchise, picked up the rights only to be purchased by Electronic Arts a year later and renamed EA Mythic. EA touted the purchase as their move into the MMOG realm but recent happenings, including the restructuring of the title's developer, the recent high-profile, high-price acquisition of BioWare, who is making their own anticipated MMORPG, mixed beta impressions and the new delay doesn't bode well for the title.
The delay comes only a week after reported layoffs and restructuring taking place at EA Mythic and Redwood Shores Studios that were later confirmed by EA. EA Mythic's General Manager Mark Jacobs had the following to say about the delay: "The short answer would be that it's hard to make this kind of game. Now, for a more detailed answer. It really boils down to this: Our game is going to live and die by two things. One is realm-versus-realm (RvR) gameplay. The second is overall quality. This is not 1999, 1997, or even 2001. This is 2007. We have to be able to release a game that, in terms of quality, without even going into game systems or RvR, is top-notch. We've seen too many games in this industry, and in this space, release without that, and we're not going to do that."
The idea of a Warhammer MMORPG has had a long and bumpy road since it was originally conceived in 2000 by Climax and Microsoft. The game was dropped by Microsoft and later canceled by Climax after they failed to secure a publisher and ran out of money in 2004. The next summer the folks at then Mythic Entertainment, makers of the Dark Age of Camelot franchise, picked up the rights only to be purchased by Electronic Arts a year later and renamed EA Mythic. EA touted the purchase as their move into the MMOG realm but recent happenings, including the restructuring of the title's developer, the recent high-profile, high-price acquisition of BioWare, who is making their own anticipated MMORPG, mixed beta impressions and the new delay doesn't bode well for the title.