James Ohlen is best known as Creative Director and Lead Designer of games like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Never Winter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age. As of now, he has retired from BioWare and is the current founder of Arcanum Worlds.
It’s no secret at this point that Ohlen has departed from the company — a company that’s pretty controversial during these times. The man who has worked on several notable titles under BioWare’s belt has moved on and retired to work on “smaller and personal” projects.
The following information comes from Ohlen’s Twitter account where he announces his departure from BioWare as a retirement move (not from the industry, though) as a means to do things he’d like on a smaller scale:
After 22 years I have retired from BioWare. I've loved my time with Anthem, Star Wars, Dragon Age and Dungeons and Dragons. But I need to take a break from the industry and work on something a little smaller and more personal.
— James Ohlen (@JamesOhlen) July 12, 2018
You’ve read right, the veteran designer and creative director who once served at BioWare announced that after 22 years of working with the company he has moved on.
As noted in the introductory or header paragraph, his work spans across titles such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Never Winter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age.
Although there are rumors popping up here and there that Ohlen just jumped ships before BioWare began its decline, according to Ohlen his departure was made due to his longing love to get back to his youthful experiences with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D):
The most fun I've ever had at BioWare was as the lead designer on Baldur's Gate 1+2 and NWN. I've been a D&D fanatic since I was 10 years old and I want to be a part of it again. Please visit https://t.co/412NLtStkx to see what I'm talking about.
— James Ohlen (@JamesOhlen) July 12, 2018
If you don’t know, Arcanum Worlds is a publishing venture formed by a small group of veterans from the video games industry. Their goal is to build “epic adventures” for the “world’s greatest roleplaying game,” which happens to be Odyssey of the Dragon Lords:
“Our first project is a hardcover sourcebook for the fifth edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. This epic adventure is set in a fantasy world inspired by Ancient Greek mythology.”
With all of that said, you can pay arcanumworlds.com a visit or leave your thoughts below on why he left BioWare.
