Archetype Entertainment Studio Head Exits Studio Just Days After Its 'Exodus' Showcase At The Game Awards

James Ohlen, the Studio Head of Archetype Entertainment, is leaving his position within the company just days after it showcased its first game, Exodus, at The Game Awards.

Hasbro announced Ohlen’s departure with Vice President of Corporate Communications Abby Hodes telling Bloomberg, “At this stage, James felt his work on the game was complete and that the polishing and tuning were in great hands with the team.”

Additionally, Hodes shared that Ohlen “asked to shift his creative focus” from video game development to tabletop roleplaying games. She also said that he would remain with the company as a creative consultant.

The move comes as the game is still over a year out from its scheduled release date, which is some time in 2027.

Ohlen joined Wizards of the Coast and its new studio, which would become Archetype Entertainment in 2019 after retiring from BioWare.

He explained to Games Industry why he returned, “I talked to Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks and he gave me a scenario that was very intriguing and interesting, so I flew up to Seattle and sat down with Wizards of the Coast for six hours of interviews. It was like the scene out of The Godfather where it was an offer that was too good to refuse."

As for what that offer was, he shared it was making and working on projects that were personal to him, “This is just an opportunity to work on projects as personal to me as the good ol' days of the '90s and early '00s. In that time, work wasn't work for me at all. I didn't think of the work I was doing then to be anything but a labor of love. It was the most fun. I would prefer to be working on one of my games than going on vacation. I was a little bit of a workaholic, because I loved it. And Wizards is giving me an opportunity to return to those personal projects.”

At the time the primary purpose of the studio was to create a new IP. Wizards of the Coast President Chris Cocks stated, “Our first step is to build a franchise that will endure, like Magic and D&D, and we'll figure out the right platforms for that world to express itself over the years to come.”

“We think our strength is in creating fun, detailed worlds that players and our community want to immerse themselves in,” he elaborated. “Obviously, we have a rich lineage in tabletop and trading cards, but what our focus on is developing a world that people will care about and then figuring out which platforms let people connect with it in the best possible way for them.”

With Exodus, Archetype created a tabletop RPG, an encyclopedia, novels by Peter F. Hamilton, and a YouTube show, Star Heist: An Exodus Story, that saw Ohlen lead a tabletop adventure.

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