Wizards of the Coast has launched a new studio. It was headed by the leading designer of Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age
A year ago, James Ohlen announced that he was retiring. After twenty-two years at BioWare, where he was responsible for the design of Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Dragon Age and Mass Effect: Andromeda, he wanted to work on something small for himself for a couple of years. The pension did not last long.
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition
Yesterday, April 24, it became known that Olen will head the new video game studio of Wizards of the Coast.
It is already known that the products of the new studio will not exploit the company’s popular brands. On the contrary, the studio, as our colleagues from GamesIndustry write, has a mandate to create and launch new IP.
“I think it’s much more personal than the projects I’ve been working on for the second half of my career at BioWare,” says Olen. — “The first BioWare projects were very personal for me. D&D has been an important part of my life since I turned eight. Baldur’s Gate was a very personal project for me, and Star Wars is another thing I love (…) Wizards of the Coast gives me the opportunity to get back to work on games that are close to me.”
At the same time, Olen does not specify how big a team he is currently assembling. On the one hand, he clarified that now the studio is focused on IP development, and IP preparation does not require a large team. On the other hand, he made it clear that Wizards of the Coast wants to eventually become an AAA developer, and it will increase its staff “organically”.
This is far from the first step for Wizards of the Coast towards digital entertainment. In 2017, the company carried out a large-scale reorganization within its walls. During its course, all internal teams involved in “digital” were transformed into the Digital Games Studio. The latter has been creating video game iterations of Magic: The Gathering. In addition, the result of the restructuring was the launch of a digital publishing house as a separate division.
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