In December of last year, despite being head of the studio, James Ohlen left Archetype Entertainment, also leaving behind his role as producer on Exodus. It was a bit of a surprise, considering he co-founded the studio after retiring from BioWare in 2018. In a recent interview, Ohlen explains why he made the call, talking about potentially the most unifying experience in game development: burnout.
“I was functioning on the fumes, and it was taking a toll on my health and my personal life and everything. I just needed to get away,” Ohlen told PC gamer. “As a creative you care so much about everything, and then as the head of the studio you have to cut the baby in two all the time and have people constantly attack your vision. I definitely wouldn’t put myself in that situation again; it’s not a healthy place to be.”
Archetype Entertainment was actually founded in 2019 and has yet to release a game. When it all started, needing to create another studio that would make a big AAA game with a staff from similar backgrounds, Ohlen questioned his decision to do so, saying, “Maybe I was wrong. I fooled myself into thinking I wouldn’t die inside. But yeah, it was just too much.”
It doesn’t seem like an easy time either, as he explains: “You’re trying to manage all kinds of different personalities and people and groups and organizations, and then there’s the pressure cooker of being on a big-budget title.” Plus, there’s the fact that Exodus features the writings of Peter Hamilton, a consultant on the game, and the contract negotiations to involve him also seem quite difficult. “It almost killed me,” Ohlen said, saying it ended with “three different groups all trying to negotiate a contract, and (only) one of them seemed to want to go through with it. I was answering calls around 11 p.m..”
Now, Ohlen is focused on three RPG adventure books as part of Arcanum Worlds, a company he started with Jesse Sky, also formerly of BioWare and co-founder of Archetype Entertainment who is now creative director of Exodus. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from all this in that AAA games are just a little too big, huh? Food for thought! The full interview is worth reading, as it also touches on the trials and tribulations Ohlen went through as developer Star Wars: The Old Republic.
