Wizards of the Coast - James Ohlen Leading Studio
 

PC Gamer reports that James Ohlen will be leading a multimedia studio which will be focused on original IP.

More information.

Good news but sadly this is only for tabletop games right now. He just raised money for a new setting and rulebook on Kickstarter. So don't except any new RPG games.

Well then, they don't need money I guess so we'll be playing The Dark Eye and Pathfinder videogames in the future. Or Larian's Divinity ruleset whatever it's name is.

To be honest I'm not complaining, we got some nice games outside of wotc's clutches and wotc decided eons ago they don't want any $ from singleplayer videogames so they can rot for all I care.

Well they went the MMO route after Atari went bankrupt and decided SP CRPGs are dead. They did allow some new games, but they flopped like Sword Coast Legends.

To clarify my earlier post he is designing game worlds and Ip's right now. If that translates into future CRPGs great, but Wizards of the Coast is not a developer. I can see other developers licensing the new game-worlds and systems though.

Ohlen mention returning to the game industry in the press release.

The announcement seems unrelated to Arcanum Worlds, the tabletop company that James Ohlen co-founded with Jesse Sky and Drew Karpashyn (all ex-BioWare), and their Kickstarter that isn't even over yet.

You missed my reply above.:)

This is a good start, not exactly what I was hoping for, but with some luck perhaps in the future we'll see future new gaming options for the computer. That Sword Coast fiasco did leave a sour taste though, guess they need plenty of time to get over that!!!

Yeah still pissed off about Sword Coast:Legends myself.>:(

That'll tech me about getting my hopes up for another good SP D&D CRPG.:(

5e is so popular right now. 11 million was just raised for a D&D based cartoon on kickstarter. WotC needs some vision and realize a new Gold Box, Neverwinter Nights, or Baldur's Gate games would do very well if they were done right and with passion.

I think they are worried about the done right part and too many people are just worried about a fast buck. WotC does such a good job with the 5e books and modules but I don't have much faith in them when it comes to movies, video games, or novels.

A Drizzt series or movie could be very popular yet nothing. If a Witcher series is being released why do we see nothing from WotC? I would think Drizzt has way more popularity in America than Geralt.

Hopefully if they ever do make more cartoons or movies they get it right this time. I still remember watching those last three D&D adaption movies from the last few years.

Anyway I recall reading a new movie is in production for 2021.

I do like Joe Manganiello and maybe he and his wife could fund the movie or a series by themselves :) Do something with his character Arkahn the Cruel. Joe does have the greatest game room of all time.

The great think about Joe is he is very passionate about D&D and he is an old school gamer. Not to mention, he is the luckiest man on the planet.

That's because I was writing mine (and getting interrupted at work).

Although, WotC opened up a video game studio/publisher 2 years ago lead by an ex-Lord of the Ring Online executive producer. They are very much trying to be a developer.

Note that the keyword in all cases is: online.

Oh, he's the werewolf guy. I see he's married Sofía Vergara and built a luxury DnD dungeon. Fair play to him!

I'm hoping for a new PC RPG similar to the Shandalar game from the 1990s which was a RPG-lite deck-building game with games of Magic the Gathering as the combat. It was one of my favorite games back then.

There has been a surge of interest in Shandalar recently, and my hope (just a hope) is that WotC wants to pursue the potential $$ there and hired this RPG veteran to guide that project.

… "outside" of "Gathring" and of "Dungeoine" … does this mean it will not be Fantasy at all ? But rather Sci-Fi ?

Edit : "Gathering" and "Dungeons". It seems I've been working a little bit too much this day XD

It's 'hip' to create your own universe, now. And thanks to lawyers protecting blatantly overpriced IP, probably a lot cheaper.

I wonder if they would consider licensing Realms Beyond as a game engine and use it to generate some professional module releases? It could prove a nice synergy.

I thought WotC was all about streamlining since they saw the diversity of settings as a flaw in TSR's marketing strategy when they bought the company's assets.