Less than a week after dropping a big new trailer at The Game Awards, Exodus studio head James Ohlen has stepped down because he 'felt his work on the game was complete'

Exodus trailer still - our intrepid hero throwing a little side-eye

(Image credit: Archetype Studios)

Just one week after a new trailer for the upcoming Mass Effect-alike Exodus was unveiled at The Game Awards, a Bloomberg report says James Ohlen, the head of developer Archetype Entertainment, has stepped down.

The change comes as part of what appears to be a shakeup of gaming efforts at Hasbro, which has brought in industry veteran Paul Della Bitta to head up Wizards of the Coast's Digital Ventures division. Della Bitta spent 10 years across two stints at Blizzard, as well as two years as general manager of Riot Games in North America. More recently, he was a co-founder of Dreamhaven, the developer and publisher headed up by former Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime.

EXODUS – The Rise of Jun Aslan | Official Trailer - YouTube

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But it's the departure of Ohlen that strikes me as the most notable development here, at least from a gamer's perspective. A 22-year BioWare veteran with lead design and director credits on everything from the original Baldur's Gate to Anthem, Ohlen took the wheel of a then-unnamed new development studio at Wizards of the Coast in 2019; Exodus, the studio's first project, was revealed at The Game Awards in 2023. But just two years later, Ohlen is out.

"At this stage, James felt his work on the game was complete and that the polishing and tuning were in great hands with the team," Hasbro vice president of corporate communications Abby Hodes told Bloomberg. Hodes said Ohlen had "asked to shift his creative focus" to tabletop games, and will remain with Hasbro as a creative consultant.

Good for Ohlen if he feels like he's done his bit, but there's a lot of time left before Exodus actually ships: It's currently targeting a release sometime in early 2027, more than a year from now. That's a lot of time for "polishing and tuning," and also what I would think is when you'd really want your studio chief to be on top of things.

I've reached out to Archetype Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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