There’s lots of benefits to being a rank-and-file EA employee— the satisfaction of being a disposable corporate commodity; the long hours required to complete brilliant marketing-driven projects like Rise of the Imperfects; the respect and admiration of your peers.

But one of those perks is going away! It’s the one where EA gives you the option to buy a share of stock in the company at a price higher than it’s currently valued on the market. At this rate, pretty soon you won’t even be able to have your emails and instant messages scanned for unauthorized uses of the word “union”.

Read - EA Offers Employees ‘Underwater’ Trade [Next Generation]

EA’s purchase of Mythic went official today, though the amount of the sale is not yet public.

While there was no success with titles from MMO newb teams, like Motor City Online, The Sims Online and Earth & Beyond (I did have about a week of fun with my ol’ Terran Trader “10,000 Dollars Money”), EA has done all right keeping the proven formula of Ultima Online on a profitable glide path, so doomsayers step aside. Mythic isn’t going to immediately explode.

But will the EA cash machine help Mythic’s Warhammer Online be a strong Pepsi to World of Warcraft Coke? Metafuture says it can’t hurt. The timing is right— after a few months with the upcoming Burning Crusade expansion, there will be plenty of WoW veterans that wouldn’t mind taking a vacation. If the founders can keep their head in the game and forget that they’re now rich enough to retire, then they can make the serious effort needed to not be just another RC Cola.