Barnett casts irreverence spell, Mythic pops damage control ability
by Kyle Horner 
Sep 17th 2008 at 7:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, Warhammer Online, News items
Long-time followers of Paul Barnett are likey familiar with his occasional misquotes of the past. If you've not paid much attention to the resident "Crazy British Bloke" of Mythic Entertainment, all you need to know is that he's a joyous, entertaining and sometimes abstrusely sarcastic fellow. However it's hard to take something like, "They [EA] know nothing about launching MMOs in Europe, unless it's spending lots of money closing them down I suppose." as purely sarcastic in nature. Still, we're all familiar with how text doesn't exactly convey tone and body language all too well. So we're willing to give Paul the benefit of the doubt here, as is Mark Jacobs who has recently said of the whole thing, "What Paul said about EA not knowing anything about launching MMOs: you know, Paul likes to exaggerate - of course EA knows things about launching MMOs. EA is responsible, certainly, for one of the most important MMOs of all time, and that was Ultima [Online]." Clearly Mythic is doing some damage control here, but on the eve of launch they can't really be blamed for it. It seems that as great as Paul Barnett is for creatively directing a game (Warhammer Online is filled with bits of creative awesomeness) and helping to excite people about his game, he's also a double-edged sword that sometimes swings the wrong way. Regardless, we all love him for speaking his mind, even if it means that sometimes we all cautiously glance sideways at one another.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jess said on 7:34PM 9-17-2008
Freedom of speech and crazy Brits ftw.
Reply
Wjowski said on 9:17PM 9-17-2008
EA knows precisely jack and shit about MMOs outside of how to buy them up and squeeze as much cash as possible out of them before they wither and die.
OSI and Richard Garriot brought us UO, not EA.
...And don't mention Earth and Beyond.
Reply
Jess said on 10:25PM 9-17-2008
....and Hellgate: London!
Holey said on 11:05PM 9-17-2008
To even say EA had anything to do with UO's launch is hilarious.....I believe EA bought UO from Origin...amirite?
sezmra said on 12:17AM 9-18-2008
I love Paul: he's feisty as all get out and says what he thinks. The corporate circle-jerk gets kind of tiresome sometimes.
Go Paulie, go!
Reply
pufonthis said on 12:50AM 9-18-2008
However, what he said was true. And it really wasn't that bad. I'd take Paul and his silly comments over a guy like EE any day.
Reply
Daedren said on 3:49AM 9-18-2008
I came here to say what other people are saying...
Utima Online =! EA
What the hell is that?
Mark, you're killing us! That's like saying Verant was responsible for Everquest 2.
Reply
Brian! said on 4:35AM 9-18-2008
You know, this is great publicity. Talking smack about your publisher? Especially a publisher that is not very much liked by gamers these days.
Seriously, it is like someone in the US government saying, "Bush can't run a country properly". Totally avoids the fact that they are part of the huge mess and makes them look good to the majority of people who agree with that statement.
Brilliant really. Then Mark comes in and says EA is good, just look at their UO launch, which they never did! Hahah. Even more funny the execs at EA might just think that was a compliment because they probably have no idea about the history of UO nor care either. After all, their sport's games make WAY more money than UO could have ever pulled in.
That said, WAR is so fun. I have to stop playing as I am falling behind in my work schedule. I even have too many alts, which I never have in a MMO. Every class just has something cool and special and feels, well, important.
Just tonight my group set an ambush on some dwarfs. They were running a public quest so we sent in a single player flagged or PvP (our shaman!) and they all started chasing him thinking it was an easy kill. As they were lead into a valley they ran into 3 of us Orcs, a Sorceress, and a Zelot. Oh, the carnage. Best of all, they must have thought they would have revenge, and they kept coming and coming. RvR can be so fun, even outside the lines Mythic has in place.
Reply
Logo said on 10:10AM 9-18-2008
I don't see his comment as an insult.
EA hasn't really launched a European MMO from my understanding. They don't know a lot about the localization, CSR staffing, billing and other issues. Not knowing how to do something you've never done (or had to try to do) before isn't an insult.
If I said that the Staff of Massively knows nothing about performing brain surgery or rocket science it's not really an insult.
I guess the "spending lots of money and closing them down" part does have a little sting to it though
Reply
recursive said on 8:27PM 9-18-2008
Paul is such a loose cannon. Having seen some of the vids of him talking now, I suppose he's just doofing when he says these things, but they really should never be allowed to be put to paper. I'm sure he's a good designer, but maybe the PR thing isn't for him, unless you follow the any publicity is good publicity line of thought.
As for GOA.. boy did they mess up the open beta. They've been better since though, hope they keep it up.
Reply