Fans of narrative-driven role-playing games might want to pay attention to Archetype Entertainment, a new video game-focused division of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast that was officially revealed today. The development studio housed in Austin, Texas is being led by James Ohlen and Chad Robertson, both of whom have a history in the video game industry with BioWare and its parent company Electronic Arts.
BioWare has had a rocky recent string of releases with 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda and 2019's Anthem. However Archetype Entertainment's Studio Head Ohlen, whose acquisition by Wizards of the Coast was announced last April, worked at the developer for 22 years according to his LinkedIn.
Having started as a Director of Design in 1996, Ohlen's credits include  the Dungeons and Dragons-adjacent Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic, which is reportedly being remade. He also founded a publishing company focused on tabletop games called Arcanum Worlds in 2018.
Robertson, who has been involved with Archetype Entertainment since November according to LinkedIn, was announced as a studio leader by its official Twitter account today. He served as the Studio Director at BioWare Austin (the division responsible for Star Wars: The Old Republic, considered one of the best not subscription-based MMORPGs) for two years, and together with Ohlen brings almost 40 years of experience in game development.
According to Wizards of the Coast the new studio will be an autonomous entity, and Archetype Entertainment's website says it wants to build games representing diverse audiences "that put the player at the center of an epic personal narrative with impactful choices." As of now it's unknown what they're working on beyond a "multi-platform" sci-fi RPG.
It's likely Archetype Entertainment might not announce concrete details about a game for some time as the studio is currently "assembling a world-class team," who it says it would aim to empower and challenge with "ambitious" projects. Listed on the studio's website are nine open job positions including Art Director, Lead VFX Artist, and Lead Gameplay Engineer.
As fans of BioWare's older titles wait for a potential remaster of the Mass Effect trilogy, Archetype Entertainment might be able to scratch their narrative-driven RPG itch. It should be interesting to see what Ohlen and Robertson can put together once they fill out their team.
Source: Archetype Entertainment