In a soothing letter to the community, Jeff Hickman, executive producer at Mythic, says that despite the turmoil at EA, Mythic will "remain committed to providing you with the best possible gaming experiences and customer support both now and in the future."

"At Mythic, we remain committed to our games and the passionate people who play them – we're going to continue to deliver the content and service that keeps you playing," Hickman writes. "We want to assure our community that we will maintain the same high level of customer support you've come to expect and continue to improve our games with an exciting schedule of patches, live events and new content."

With cuts at Mythic rumored to be deep, we genuinely hope that the developer is supported by its publisher to remain committed to the fanbase of all three titles. And that the bleeding stops soon, lest everyone be forced to play Pet Society.

Jeff Hickman - Executive Producer's Letter [Warhammer Herald via Joystiq]

We don't hear much about Dark Age of Camelot these days, and really haven't heard all that much since the Labyrinth of the Minotaur expansion pack introduced a new race and the game's largest dungeon. Now Mythic aims to remind the community that DAoC still functions, offering up Labyrinth and the previous expansion, Darkness Rising, free of charge to all players who haven't secured them yet. Along with the free expansions comes a 1-day reactivation of old accounts, allowing anyone who has been gone for more than 90 days to come back and play for free.

"The Dark Age of Camelot community has thrived for nearly a decade and the game has helped transform the MMO landscape with the introduction of groundbreaking Realm vs. Realm gameplay," said Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer of Mythic Entertainment. "We could not be more excited to offer all this entertainment to all current players and to those interested in returning to the game, as well as to those looking to experience the game for the first time."

Yes, along with the return promotion, new players can sign up for a 14-day trial to see what they've been missing all these years.

It's been years since I've played Dark Age, but I have some really fond memories. Mainly cyber, but I swear I attacked a monster once or twice.

"We are excited about the opportunities we have in the online gaming space and felt that Matt is the perfect person to lead this effort," said James Leder, COO of ZeniMax Media. There are relatively few people who have the actual experience and knowledge that comes from having created a successful MMO, and Matt is the real deal. We feel fortunate to have him join our group."

ZeniMax Media Announces Establishment of Online Gaming Division - ZeniMax Online Studios Subsidiary to be headed by noted MMO veteran

August 1, 2007 (Rockville, MD) - ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios. The division will be headed by Matt Firor, a well-known expert in the field of online gaming, and will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) market segment.

Firor was one of the founders of Mythic Entertainment, where he worked for over 10 years on MMO titles. At Mythic he was the producer of the worldwide #1 smash hit Dark Age of Camelot, a MMORPG considered one of the most influential online games of all time. When he left Mythic in 2006, Firor was responsible for all development projects at the company. For the past year, he has been a consultant in the online gaming industry, advising leading publishers interested in entering the online market.

"This could not be a more perfect opportunity for me," said Matt. "I am extremely impressed with ZeniMax and Bethesda Softworks management - their development philosophy closely matches my own, with an emphasis on quality, innovation, and craftsmanship. I am eager to get back to what I love - the development of cutting edge MMOG titles."

"We are excited about the opportunities we have in the online gaming space and felt that Matt is the perfect person to lead this effort," said James Leder, COO of ZeniMax Media. There are relatively few people who have the actual experience and knowledge that comes from having created a successful MMO, and Matt is the real deal. We feel fortunate to have him join our group."

Firor is a graduate of George Washington University and has worked in the gaming industry for 17 years. He has lectured at the University of Virginia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology on game development topics, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Firor has written articles for Game Developer Magazine and was a regular columnist covering online game development for the Korean gaming magazine "Onplayer".

For more information on ZeniMax Online Studios, visit www.zenimaxonline.com.

Good news for lapsed Dark Age of Camelot fans, while perhaps not-so-good news for longtime subscribers, EA Mythic has announced that from henceforth the Catacombs expansion to the long-running MMORPG game shall be available as a free download. An expansion pack that introduced upgraded graphics, new cities, and new character classes, players previously had to pay $20 to access the new and improved content. More than likely a move to make sure everyone is on the same page graphically for future expansions and the like.

Good news for me, since I stopped playing DAOC right before this got released back in December 2004, so I never got to try out the heretic, vampire, bainshee, warlock, or valkyrie, despite being relatively sure I'd be the prettiest valkyrie ever. Might be time for me to poke around there a bit and see what I've been missing. Michael Fahey

EA MYTHIC UPGRADES ALL PLAYERS TO "CATACOMBS(TM)" FOR FREE

"Catacombs," the 5th Expansion for "Dark Age of Camelot(R)" is Now Available as a Free Download

EA Mythic today announced that "Catacombs(TM)," the fifth expansion for the critically-acclaimed MMO "Dark Age of Camelot(R)," is available to all current and retired players as a free download. All accounts have been granted access to the expansion content.

The "Catacombs" expansion introduces improved graphics, five new character classes, three massive underground cities, and instanced dungeons to the world of Camelot. Players can download the "Catacombs" files at http://catacombs.darkageofcamelot.com/downloads.php. Former players returning to the game can re-activate their account, regain their original characters and take advantage of the online availability of the expansion.

"Catacombs" requires the original "Dark Age of Camelot" and the "Shrouded Isle(TM)" expansion to play. These games are available as a single, convenient 14-day free trial at www.darkageofcamelot.com/downloads.

# # #

About "Dark Age of Camelot(R)"
"Dark Age of Camelot" is a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game ("MMORPG") featuring Realm vs. Realm(R) combat, EA Mythic's unique take on Player vs. Player action. In addition, the game features multiple class and race combinations, a robust trade skill system, and a comprehensive player Guild system. After five years and over a million players, "Dark Age of Camelot" has proven to be an enduring success.

For more information about "Dark Age of Camelot," visit www.darkageofcamelot.com.

I have no idea what the source of this chart is, but glancing at the most current numbers it seems pretty accurate to me. (If you know the source, email me and I'll gladly update this post.)

While the dominance of World of Warcraft is unsurprising, it does look like its never-ending ascendancy may be slowing. The popular Lineage is taking a dive, nearly on par with its sequel, which for about a year was exceeding its player base. (I wonder what caused all those people to come back to Lineage in the last year?)

Can that many people be playing RuneScape? Their website says they've got 70k people or so playing right now, so I suppose a three-quarters of a million subscribers is possible, but I'd never even heard of it. Maybe we know the source of this chart after all: RuneScapes' savvy marketing team. Joel Johnson (Thanks, Llama3!)

Update: Thanks to everybody who pointed out the source of this chart, the very fine MMOGChart.com.