In my second round of thanks, I want to give a giant shout-out to the guys and gals who were part of VUIP during the salad days of Dark Age of Camelot. Prior to the launch of DAoC we (myself, Eugene Evans) made the rounds of a whole lot of publishers/distributors trying to get them to distribute our game (we also tried to get people to publish/fund our game as well) and basically our success at doing that could be best be summed up with the phrase, “No, no, a thousand times no!” Okay, maybe not a thousand times but close enough and it really felt like a thousand. Every one we went to turned us down (at least they didn’t laugh in our face which they did when we tried to get them to publish the game) cold. Now, I can be a fairly persuasive guy and Eugene, well, nobody could ever accuse him of not being able to take a good meeting, but we had no success whatsoever. Well, things were looking pretty grim until we went to a meeting with the wonderful people at VUIP. We gave them our pitch, they then thought about it for about 30 seconds and then said (paraphrasing a little, it’s been a long time) “So, let me get this straight. You are not looking for any development funding, the game is running now and all you want is 1/2 of a tiny SKU (40K units I believe) guarantee upfront? Have I got that right?” We said yes, they said “Well, we don’t have too much to lose do we?” And we smiled and said exactly. We shook hands and made the deal. The rest, as they say is history. DAoC went on to be a big success for VU (its ROI for them was rather substantial as it was for us) and we enjoyed a wonderful working and personal relationship with them. They were tremendous partners and friends and just a great group of people to work with over the years. After EA bought us I wanted to take out a full page ad thanking VU but was discouraged from doing so (FYI, not by EA). I wish I had listened to my heart that time, they deserved that much from me and from us but as always, I was the CEO/GM and so the failure is mine.
So, to the guys and gals at VU, to Phil, Feza, Koren, Bruce, Leslie and others who helped make our success and with whom I shared many good years and memories, you have my most sincere thanks and deepest gratitude, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Mark
Scott Jennings
Aug 18, 2010 @ 00:30:58
So, check back for the next update in October 2011?
(ducks)
Mark Jacobs
Aug 18, 2010 @ 00:36:27
No need to duck, I deserve that comment. Gosh, I hope not though. As always, time will tell.
Wasdstomp
Aug 18, 2010 @ 01:36:59
So what do you think about the state of Warhammer Online these days? What do you think about the big announcement probably coming tomorrow? Do you think Mythic is working on DAOC 2 secretly?
Mark Jacobs
Aug 18, 2010 @ 01:42:49
You’re asking the wrong guy. The senior leadership of the studio formerly known as Mythic Entertainment haven’t been in touch with me in over a year. So, your guess is as good as mine but since I’m no longer part of EA/Mythic/etc. I can happily demur to any speculation/questions/issues regarding WAR/BM/EA.
Jean-Francois Levesque
Aug 18, 2010 @ 01:43:50
I really like these insider stories. We often don’t realize what developers have overcome to ship a game.
I believe I played around 2 years of DAoC after I spent quite some time on Everquest. My friends and I had a great time. Thanks for that 🙂
Mark Jacobs
Aug 18, 2010 @ 01:47:46
Thanks for your support for DAoC. Game developers have it tough especially MMO developers (now more than ever). One of the interesting things about Mythic and the industry is that if you look at all the publishers/distributors who told me that we were going to fail with online games (including DAoC) and that online games were never going to as big as standalone, most of them are gone and Mythic is still open for business. Not too shabby.
James
Aug 18, 2010 @ 01:49:59
It’s good to see you are still out there. Thanks for all the work you have done.
Syp
Aug 17, 2010 @ 22:56:52
Mark, I’m concluding a series looking back at Dark Age of Camelot for Massively. Would you be interested in doing an interview or sharing your thoughts on it? People are really still passionate about the game.
If so, drop me a line at justin@massively.com — and no matter what, great to hear from you!
Silverel
Aug 17, 2010 @ 23:42:59
Oh you beautiful genius of a man. Looking forward to following your blog for any bits of wisdom and inspiration that fall upon your path. Mythic is a win in my book under your leadership and it really is their loss that you’ve been thrown under the bus. Kudos sir, I wish you the best and thank you for all you’ve brought the MMO community.
Mark Jacobs
Aug 17, 2010 @ 23:56:00
You are welcome. Nice timing though, you posted right before I finished my post on Communities. 🙂
On The Community: Mark Jacobs « The Skuz Blogs
Aug 18, 2010 @ 00:47:39