Matt Firor & Mark Jacobs Interview

MPOGD.com has released an interview in article format with both Matt Firor and Mark Jacobs of Mythic Entertainment, in which the executive producer and CEO discuss the Catacombs expansion, buffbots, the state of the MMORPG industry, and more. An excerpt:

Continuing in the analytical vein, Jacobs explained there is enough room for new MMOs like Imperator. “A lot of people like to say that, that they think that the market has been saturated. Now, I can tell you the same story for seven years and even before that, and it’s really quite simple.

“When Meridian came out, nobody thought you could make money on online games. So, those of us who have been in the industry since raptors ruled the earth saw it differently. Then Ultima came out, and obviously this is the first game to do a 100,000 users.and people – I’m not saying critics – I mean, persons in the industry, folks said, ‘Ah, you know, that it’s the market, it’s pretty well saturated at 100,000. The only reason Ultima succeeded was.’ Well, Sony showed how smart they were. Then Everquest came out in and obviously blew through the numbers of Ultima. And then we came out.

“Okay, well, a quarter of million subscribers later, they were wrong again. And, you know, every year we hear the same thing. The market isn’t there, it’s saturation, you know, when’s it going to stop. And, you know, so far, obviously, we haven’t been anywhere near saturated. Because the new games that come out only cannibalize existing games to a very, very small extent.