James Ohlen

For me the disappointment of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League isn’t just about its quality. It's about what it’s not as much as what it is. There’s very little of what made developer Rocksteady’s games so great in the past – near-unparalleled superhero power trips that sit alongside Insomniac’s critically acclaimed Spider-Man series. It’s also the latest in a frustratingly long line of beloved single-player-championing studios delving into unwelcoming loot-infested live-service waters. It’s been a perilous leap for many to make, with success limited to very few not called Bungie, and I hope we’re now at the end of this detrimental trend that’s plagued so many.

This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.

Revolutionary RPG Baldur's Gate 3 was the surpise hit of 2023; a confluence of contributing factors that led to Larian's creating a once-in-a-generation level experience. But Larian has left the building, moving onwards and upwards, and ultimate IP holder Hasbro has already made a $1 billion bet on internal game development.

While they ponder which developers should face the difficult task of following up one of the most acclaimed games in a long time by making a sequel by Baldur's Gate 3, the makers of Dungeons & Dragons are also putting their own money into making video games themselves. Over a billion dollars of their own money, in fact.

Last year was a massive one for Hasbro's video game business, with Monopoly Go and Baldur's Gate 3 providing the toy maker with two of its biggest hits in games to date.

Exodus, the new time-bending space RPG from former Mass Effect devs, will have a wide array of companions to meet and alien species to encounter - but it'll also have this adorable, hyper-intelligent pig called Charlotte.

When Exodus was announced at The Game Awards last December, it was none other than actor Matthew McConaughey who unveiled the game on-stage. At the time, it was revealed that he was playing a major character in the game, though since then, further details on the role he will play have been scarce.

Archetype Entertainment might be an entirely new studio, but with its ranks full of industry vets from BioWare, Naughty Dog, and more, it certainly seems to have the talent to back its AAA ambitions. The studio revealed its first game – AAA sci-fi action RPG Exodus – in December last year, turning the heads of more than a few Mass Effect fans, and has been doling out new details on it in bits and pieces ever since.

Exodus, the upcoming action-adventure RPG from former BioWare veterans, is now also being worked on by a Halo and Call of Duty support studio.

Certain Affinity’s long-rumored battle royale mode for Halo Infinite may have faced potential cancellation, but other projects are coming up. They include Exodus, the upcoming triple-A action RPG from Archetype Entertainment announced at The Game Awards 2024.

EXODUS was one of the most interesting game reveals at The Game Awards 2023. It is the debut project of Archetype Entertainment, an Austin-based studio helmed by former BioWare legend James Ohlen (who worked on classics like the first Baldur's Gate games, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins) and owned by Wizards of the Coast. Shortly after its foundation, the studio was joined by another ex BioWare veteran: writer Drew Karpyshyn, known mostly as the lead writer of the acclaimed first two Mass Effect games.

Certain Affinity is a lead co-development partner on the recently announced science-fiction action adventure RPG EXODUS from Archetype Entertainment, the developer announced.

Exodus, an upcoming space RPG from genre veterans, will have multiple endings depending on your choices.

Announced at The Game Awards, Exodus, from developer Archetype Entertainment, caught the eye of many RPG fans desperate for anything that remotely resembles the original Mass Effect trilogy. That's no accident; Archetype boasts some of BioWare's most storied talent, people responsible for games like Baldur's Gate I & II, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins. Oh, and Matthew McConaughey is in it.

Revealed during last week's Geoffening, Exodus is the first game from Archetype Entertainment, a new studio that includes former members of BioWare and Naughty Dog. It's a sci-fi odyssey with third-person shooting that looks and sounds a lot like Mass Effect, but it has one differentiating Big Idea (aside from Matthew McConaughey): time dilation, whereby time passes different in different places, depending on relative velocity and local gravity.

Among the announcements at The Game Awards 2023 came an exciting new sci-fi role-playing game (RPG) from Archetype Entertainment: Exodus. This intriguing title is made all the more promising by the wider experience of many developers behind the game, which includes veterans from Halo, Mass Effect, andThe Last of Us. 

James Ohlen is no stranger to intriguing RPG worlds, having worked at developer BioWare for two decades on everything from Baldur’s Gate to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He’s now working to create “the best possible science fiction universe” at an entirely new studio, Archetype Entertainment, but the team's first game Exodus “isn’t trying to compete against Starfield.”

Exodus was giving off some big Mass Effect vibes during its reveal at The Game Awards 2023, and in a full circle moment, the game now has the seal of approval from Mass Effect 5’s director. 

Archetype Entertainment, the Wizards of the Coast studio founded by BioWare veteran James Ohlen, unveiled its debut game called Exodus at The Game Awards 2023.

As actual play continues to mature, Larian Studios basks in the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, and Warhammer 40,000 gets its deepest video game treatment yet, it’s not a stretch to claim that we’re on the cusp — if not already in the throes — of a role-playing game renaissance. Seen one way, it could mean stiff competition for the next developer to throw its hat in the ring. Through another lens, however, it could be the perfect time for a symbolic comeback. The creative minds at Archetype Entertainment are hoping for the latter.

As the Greater Chicagoland Area's number one Matthew McConaughey fan and one of its notable BioWare-likers, having him pop up at The Game Awards to announce he'd appear in a new RPG from some BioWare old hands feels tailor-made to make me freak out. The True Detective actor will have an unspecified role in Exodus, the debut game from Archetype Entertainment.

Archetype Entertainment has announced Exodus, a sweeping interstellar RPG that will star Matthew McConaughey in va video game for the first time, and feature some time-altering elements and a focus on repercussions to your actions.

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Archetype Entertainment has revealed what they’ve been working on. Exodus is a new sci-fi action shooter for current-gen consoles.

The designer of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, James Ohlen, has written a new D&D adventure with Children of Time author Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Baldur’s Gate 2’s more complicated companion characters were unexpectedly inspired by a JRPG from across the globe: Final Fantasy 7.

I might have a personal soft spot for Baldur's Gate 1, but it's impossible to deny that Baldur's Gate 2 is far more influential. It's tectonic: a game that codified a model of RPG making whose influence is still felt today, and it's in large part down to how it handled its companion characters. 

One of the biggest strengths of Baldur's Gate 3 is undoubtedly its cast of characters. Hearts have been captured by the likes of Astarion and Karlach, when fans aren't shipping them with each other that is, and the rest of the cast is just as lovable. It took a while for the series to get to this point though, as writers for Baldur's Gate 2 were apparently looking at titles such as Final Fantasy 7 for inspiration on how to create a memorable cast of characters.

James Ohlen believes that multiplayer is the "arch villain" of storytelling, and he should know - he was, after all, game director for the massively multiplayer online title Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’s lead designer reckons his version of a KOTOR threequel wouldn’t be great since he’s “all Star Wars’d out.”

Baldur's Gate designer and writer James Ohlen says 20,000 hours of D&D practice are what prepared him for his role at BioWare.

Dragon Age writer David Gaider has said Baldur's Gate 3's romances feel "like the work I was doing 10 years ago," but that this isn't necessarily a bad thing.