Interviewing at EA Mythic (2006)

Do your research.

EA can be good - for a time - when the studio is in the initial investment phase after acquisition.

EA can be a soul sucking experience in slowly seeing all passion and enjoyment die if the studio is in the advanced monetization phase.

EA, unlike for example Ubisoft or 2K does not take innovation risk. They buy studios with innovative IP and successful innovations that can be scaled by infusing cash.

Once the monetization engine is running, the creative people who built the studio will leave on their own after their Stock Options and RSUs are cashed in and they realized they won't ever get to do anything new again ... just more of the same. Once the genre wanes due to overexploitation and stale ness sets in, promotion freezes and yearly 10-20% staff purges will eventually do their thing.

So there is a great opportunity to move forward your career, learn and spend a lot of money in the scaling phase but when the first layoffs happen you better get into the boat if you lasted that long in the boredom of financial innovations to meet responsibility profit

I actually interned at EA Mythic in summer 2007 and remember everybody out there being talented, obsessed with games (I miss those lunch chats, people would work on games and talk about games when not working on games) and great to work with. It felt idyllic at the time, didn't at all match the "EA spouse" experience I was half-expecting. Maybe it was too early in the studio's relationship with EA for that to become reality.

Too bad Warhammer Online ended up flopping and sealing the company's fate, given all of the hard work put into it. Not clear if the market had room for one more ultra-successful MMO after WoW at that point.

I’m the author of the original post. Re-reading it now nearly 14 years later is a bit embarrassing. I love where I ended up so it was all for the best that they didn’t offer me a job.

As akurilin stated, they had an immensely talented and very passionate group of gamers. I think everyone wants to work with folks that are passionate about their work and their field. It is a shame that WAR didn’t succeed as it was an ambitious vision. Many of the folks I interviewed with have gone on to end up elsewhere with successful careers—which I’m very glad to see.

I do wonder how Dan Luu came across my old blog post. I really enjoy his blog. Maybe I need to start blogging again.