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Archetype, James Ohlen, BioWare, Chad Robertson, Wizards of the Coast

Former BioWare Devs Start New Studio to Create Story-Driven RPGs

This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

Two former BioWare developers are creating a sci-fi RPG at their newly formed studio, Archetype Entertainment. Ex-BioWare creative director James Ohlen is the studio head, and former BioWare Austin studio director Chad Robertson is vice president and studio general manager. Archetype Entertainment is an autonomous division of Wizards of the Coast, which owns Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

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The new Austin, Texas-based studio is “assembling a world-class team” to create a multi-platform title with a focus on player choice. Archetype’s website suggests the developer plans to create a portfolio of story-driven RPGs:

At Archetype, we believe there will always be a place for story-driven roleplaying games that put the player at the center of an epic personal narrative with impactful choices. We are building games that represent the diversity of our audience. We also believe that game studios should empower top developers and challenge them with ambitious projects that are shaped by a strong, clearly communicated creative vision.

Ohlen is known for working on some of the most important RPGs of the last 20 years, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins, the Baldur’s Gate series, and Mass Effect. He left the company in June of 2018, with Robertson following in November of last year.

Archetype Entertainment was founded in 2019 at Wizards of the Coast, so it may be some time yet before we hear about what the team is up to.


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Michael Cripe
Michael joined The Escapist team in 2019 but has been covering games, movies, TV, and music since 2015. When he’s not writing, Michael is probably playing Super Mario Sunshine, Dead Space, The Binding of Isaac, or Doom Eternal. You can follow his news coverage and reviews at The Escapist, but his work has appeared on other sites like OnlySP, Gameranx, and Kansas City’s The Pitch, too. If you’d like to connect and talk about the latest pop-culture news, you can follow Michael on Twitter (@MikeCripe), Instagram (mike_cripe), or LinkedIn if that’s your thing.