Just days after THQ’s statements that it would be foolish to enter the MMORPG market against World of Warcraft, EA announced today that they would be acquiring Mythic Entertainment, publishers and developers of Dark Age of Camelot and developers of the new Warhammer Online massively multiplayer game. While Mythic is no slouch in the industry, their experience combined with EA’s resources makes them much more of a contender at this point. Should the integration process go well, the acquisition will hopefully mean that gamers will see more high-quality online role playing games hit the market.

Full Press Release after the jump.

EA to Acquire Mythic Entertainment

Studio Recognized Worldwide for Top Development Talent, Critically Acclaimed Franchises and Ground-Breaking Online Experiences

Electronic Arts today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Virginia-based Mythic Entertainment®. Upon completion of the acquisition, Mythic Entertainment will become EA Mythic, a wholly-owned studio dedicated to developing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Mythic is recognized worldwide for revolutionizing the online gaming space with the award-winning Dark Age of Camelot® and is currently developing Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ under license agreement with Games Workshop.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close during EA’s second quarter of fiscal 2007. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Mark Jacobs, the President, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Mythic, will become Vice President, General Manager of EA Mythic. Rob Denton, the Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Mythic will assume the role of Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of EA Mythic. Mythic’s 175-person development team will remain in Fairfax, Virginia.

“Mythic has always been a leading independent developer in the online space,” says Mark Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Mythic Entertainment. “EA’s commitment to the online market as well as its focus on creating games of unsurpassed quality, scope and scale gives us opportunities and resources we could only dream about in the past.”

“The addition of Mythic to the EA family reflects our deep commitment to the online gaming market worldwide. Mythic will bring one of the industry’s most talented MMORPG teams to EA. Together, we will create games that will introduce MMO players to a whole new level of game play and excitement,” said Paul Lee, President, EA Studios.