James Ohlen Shifts From Archetype Entertainment Head to Creative Consultant for Tabletop RPGs at Wizards

James Ohlen is "shifting his focus" to tabletop RPGs once more after choosing to step down from Archetype Entertainment ahead of the studio's release of its first game Exodus. This week, Wizards of the Coast announced the move, with Ohlen leaving his post as lead of Archetype Entertainment and Blizzard veteran Paul Della Bitta stepping in to lead Wizards' Digital Ventures arm. Ohlen joined Wizards of the Coast back in 2019 to lead up Archetype Entertainment, a new internal games studio tasked with designing AAA games based on new IPs. Their first product, Exodus, is due out for release in 2027. According to a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz, Ohlen felt that his work on Exodus was complete and that the final polishing and tuning were in "great hands" with the remaining team.

What's interesting about Ohlen's departure is that he will remain employed at Wizards as a creative consultant and that he is "shifting his creative focus" to TTRPGs. Shortly after departing Bioware, Ohlen launched Arcanum Worlds, a tabletop RPG studio publishing third-party 5E material. Ohlen developed a 5E-version of Exodus for Wizards and also released several DMs Guild supplements while employed with Wizards. Whether this means that Ohlen will have a bigger role on Dungeons & Dragons material in the future or if he'll continue to release his own brand of 5E material with a soft connection to Wizards remains to be seen.

 

[Nicholas Reed]

What wonderful news! Odyssey of the Dragonlords is phenomenal, and I really love Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy and Chains of Asmodeus! I'm excited to see what comes down the pipeline!!!

 

[Christian Hoffer]

Have you been able to verify this statement? I noticed the wording is a bit ambiguous: "He is still going to be a creative consultant for the company and had been asked to "shift his creative focus" to tabletop RPGs."

The use of had is strange. Does this mean he was asked to shift to RPGs and he said no, so he is stepping back and consulting? Or, did he or they decide he would leave and now he/they have decided he will do RPGs?

Reading the original Bloomberg report, it appears that he asked to shift his focus to tabletop gaming. It's under paywall, so I didn't have access to it initially.

 

[BovineofWar]

Have you been able to verify this statement? I noticed the wording is a bit ambiguous: "He is still going to be a creative consultant for the company and had been asked to "shift his creative focus" to tabletop RPGs."

The use of had is strange. Does this mean he was asked to shift to RPGs and he said no, so he is stepping back and consulting? Or, did he or they decide he would leave and now he/they have decided he will do RPGs?

I think the primary source, Jason Schreier's Bloomberg article is a bit clearer:

Hodes [vice president of corporate communications for Hasbro] added that Ohlen had “asked to shift his creative focus” to tabletop roleplaying games and would stay on as a creative consultant for the company.

I'm inclined to just take this at face value. Establishing a new studio from scratch is hard work, look at how many Google and Amazon ventures have floundered. I'm not saying Ohlen isn't a creative type, but he has a track record of establishing game design teams, that's what made Archetype a better precedent than some of the other new from scratch AAA studios. And if he was being pushed out involuntarily, I can't see him beg WotC to continue publishing his TTRPG stuff!

 

[Parmandur]

I think the primary source, Jason Schreier's Bloomberg article is a bit clearer:

I'm inclined to just take this at face value. Establishing a new studio from scratch is hard work, look at how many Google and Amazon ventures have floundered. I'm not saying Ohlen isn't a creative type, but he has a track record of establishing game design teams, that's what made Archetype a better precedent than some of the other new from scratch AAA studios. And if he was being pushed out involuntarily, I can't see him beg WotC to continue publishing his TTRPG stuff!

Still, as someone who is not a doomsayer for the game...this doesn't feel like a particularly good sign.

 

[Dire Bare]

Still, as someone who is not a doomsayer for the game...this doesn't feel like a particularly good sign.

I'm not worried.

Still very excited for Exodus, both as a CRPG and TTRPG release. It's been shaping up to be very awesome, and I trust Ohlen when he says he's brought it to where he's comfortable leaving it in others hands. No reason to second guess him.

Very excited to see what Ohlen brings to WotC's TTRPGs! Does this mean the Exodus TTRPG will get a more mainstream treatment?! What else will Ohlen cook up? Odyssey of the Dragonlords is one of my all-time favorite 3rd party D&D books, and I really enjoyed Heroes of Baldur's Gate and Chains of Asmodeus. And I've been a fan of Ohlen's CRPG work for decades!

Not a good sign! It's a great sign! Sign me up!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The ability to say "It wasn't me!" or are they already leaving the ship?

He is a writer, the writing stage is over. It’s all down to the coders now.

 

[Cergorach]

He is a writer, the writing stage is over. It’s all down to the coders now.

The title says "...Archetype Entertainment Head...". A writer might be done, a designer might not be. 1-2+ years before release is a bit long for just polishing imho.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The title says "...Archetype Entertainment Head...". A writer might be done, a designer might not be. 1-2+ years before release is a bit long for just polishing imho.

All the big picture interesting stuff is done, Ohlen is too old and done it too many times to be bothered with the grind. And he is a big enough name that he doesn’t need to.

 

[Koloth]

Wild speculation but maybe one of his jobs will be figuring out how to handle BG4.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wild speculation but maybe one of his jobs will be figuring out how to handle BG4.

Given that he was responsible for 1 and 2, he would be ideally suited to do that.

Personally though, I hope it means the tabletop Exodus game will be given a higher profile.