March 24^th, 2003 (12:00am) - TA Associates, one of the leading private equity and buyout firms in the United States, announced today that it has completed a $32 million investment in Mythic Entertainment, Inc., a leading independent developer of online gaming. Founded in 1995, Mythic has experienced rapid growth, with revenues more than quadrupling in 2002 over the prior year.

Headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, Mythic is a producer of Massively Multiplayer Online RPG’s. The games take advantage of advanced client/server technology delivered over the Internet, and advancements in computer graphics and processor speed, to provide the visual qualities and game play of a console game, with an underlying community focus and player-to-player economic system that creates a virtual, persistent world in which tens of thousands of people can play simultaneously. MMORPGs debuted six years ago and are quickly gaining subscribers.

Mythic’s flagship Dark Age of Camelot, released in October 2001, is the fastest growing such game in history. Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles, the game’s first expansion pack, was launched in December 2002, and was the top-selling online game for that month, and the 15th top selling PC game that month, according to NPD Techworld. Dark Age of Camelot has over 220,000 paying monthly subscribers all over the world.

"With advancements in technology, interactive virtual worlds such as Dark Age of Camelot are at the very beginnings of mass market adoption," said TA Associates Vice President, Jonathan W. Meeks, who will join Mythic’s Board of Directors. "Mark Jacobs, Rob Denton and the Mythic team have leveraged sixteen years of history developing online games to create Dark Age of Camelot, the most innovative and rapidly growing MMORPG. Online gaming represents the next wave of growth in the video game industry and Mythic is well-positioned as a leader in creating compelling content for that emerging industry."

"We chose to partner with TA because of their extensive experience in helping profitable companies accelerate growth," said Mark B. Jacobs, President and CEO of Mythic. "We look forward to working closely with them as we both expand our player base for Camelot nationally and internationally and expand our lineup of games. The future for Mythic has never looked brighter than it does today."

~ditto~