There’s an interview about UO: Kingdom Reborn, the expansion/client upgrade that I already commented, and instead of the producer of the game who I find? Mark Jacobs.

To refresh the memories:

This was in production before EA bought Mythic.

Which also sound as a revindication of the work (good or bad) that the UO team was doing on the game and that now cannot be ascribed to Mythic just because they took over. I do fucking hate when people take credit of things that they have nothing to do with.

In fact Mark Jacobs has very little to say (aka: nothing at all) about the game itself.

FiringSquad: Why is Mythic helping in the revamp of UO when they are already very busy with Warhammer Online, as well as the continued support and expansion of Dark Age of Camelot?

Mark Jacobs: Well, we are pretty fortunate that there is a lot of talent on the UO team. If we had to take on this project ourselves, we would not been able to expand Ultima Online given our current commitments.

Basically, yes. Taking credit for something that they aren’t even going to touch. We’ll see if they also take the blame, beside the credit, if the end result sucks.

FiringSquad: Will the UO team in Redwood Shores be moved to Mythic’s Virginia studios or will the two teams work together at their two locations?

Mark Jacobs: The UO team will be working under Mythic’s supervision but will remain in Redwood Shores. There are no plans for them to move here as that would be counterproductive. Besides, who wants to leave a really cool campus at Redwood Shores to come to our bare-bones offices in VA?

And this sound like a remote possibility that eventually the opposite will happen. Mythic moving from their bare-bones offices to the really cool campus at Redwood Shores. Heh.

FiringSquad: Finally, why do a revamp of UO at all when the team could work on a full sequel to the game which might have better graphical features and more content than the original?

Mark Jacobs: Like Dark Age of Camelot, I think there is still plenty of life left in UO.

No. *I* fucking believe that. You DON’T. That’s why you are making Warhammer, because you’ve driven DAoC to the ground and now need something brand new to take its place.

This decision by EA to put a lot of additional resources (and money) into the title shows, in a big way, its renewed commitment to online games. With the acquisition of Mythic and the revamp of UO, EA has shown that it is determined to regain the leadership position in a space that they helped define many years ago. It’s a new day, a new EA, and this is only the beginning…

And yeah. There cannot be an interview with Mark Jacobs without empty rethoric.

Of course EA/Mythic has NOTHING to do with the project and will just have the role of supervising the rest of the development process till the release. This is also why it is sort of justified that Mark Jacobs has absolutely NOTHING to say. He’s just sitting on the new chair and going on with the corporate-speak that, I’m sure, surprised even himself to discover how good he is at it.