Mark Jacobs is an American game designer, programmer, author and businessman, and the former GM/VP/CEO of Mythic Entertainment, Inc and after Mythic Entertainment was sold to

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

in 2006 he served as its GM/VP/CEO at EA. Best known as a lead designer of ''

Dark Age of Camelot ''Dark Age of Camelot'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in October 2001 in North America, and in January 2002 in Europe. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology, and Celtic mythology with high fantasy. It i ...

'' (2001) and '' Camelot Unchained'' (unreleased), he also created two early

MUD Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

s, ''Aradath'' and ''

Dragon's Gate ''Dragon's Gate'' was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the spr ...

'', serving as both the designer and programmer in addition to his duties as President/CEO. He founded A.U.S.I. (Adventures Unlimited Software Inc.) in 1983 and worked on a number of computer games for systems such as the Apple II. Jacobs left EA in 2009 after the company decided to merge

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American ...

with Mythic Entertainment.

Biography

Jacobs attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then attended

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

and graduated with a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

. While at GULC, he started his first computer game company, Adventures Unlimited Software Inc. in 1983. In the 1980s and until 1995, he created online games for both local networks and nationwide networks such as

GEnie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

and

Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim '' Air Warrior'' on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphica ...

's Gamestorm network. In 1995, he was the co-founder (along with Rob Denton), President and CEO of Mythic Entertainment, Inc. He was involved in all Mythic Entertainment games since 1995, including their most successful product, the

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

Dark Age Of Camelot ''Dark Age of Camelot'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in October 2001 in North America, and in January 2002 in Europe. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology, and Celtic mythology with high fantasy. It i ...

''. In March 2011, he was the co-founder of City State Entertainment, along with Andrew Meggs, President of City State Entertainment. In 2021, the studio released its first game, a co-op PVE called Final Stand: Ragnarok, via Early Access on Steam. In March 2024, the company changed its name to Unchained Entertainment to match its proprietary game engine in preparation for the full release of Final Stand: Ragnarok later that year.

Games

* ''

'' (lead designer, programmer, CEO, A.U.S.I., 1990) * '' Magestorm'' (lead designer, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 1996) * '' Aliens Online'' (designer, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 1997) * '' Darkness Falls'' (lead designer, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 1997) * '' Darkness Falls: The Crusade'' (lead designer, head acrobat, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 1999) * '' Imperator Online'' (lead designer, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 2001) * ''

'' (lead designer, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 2001) * '' Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning'' (lead designer, CEO Mythic Entertainment, 2008) * '' Camelot Unchained'' (lead designer, CEO City State Entertainment)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Mark American video game designers MUD developers Living people Syracuse University alumni Georgetown University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)