The announcement of the formation of Archetype Entertainment made a lot of waves when the studio's name was first revealed in late January as a subsidiary of Dungeons & Dragons creators Wizards of the Coast. Archetype will be helmed by BioWare's ex-senior creative officer James Ohlen, who had previously left the industry to work on pen and paper roleplaying games. At the time, the studio was lightheartedly described as BioWare 2.0, a return to BioWare's nostalgic past. Now, that description seems incredibly apt.

It was recently confirmed that Archetype hired Drew Karpyshyn to be the studio's lead writer. Karpyshyn is another BioWare veteran, having written on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, and many other titles, and he recently wrote candidly about his decision to join Archetype. In a lengthy blog post, he specifically addressed his past at BioWare and how Archetype is rekindling his passion for game development.

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Speaking of his years at BioWare, Karpyshyn explains that, "as we grew and became more successful, things changed. We became more corporate. We were less able to make what we loved." These changes personally affected Karpyshyn, who says, "my dream job became just a job, and I lost the enthusiasm and excitement I once had."

Karpyshyn has left BioWare twice in the past ten years. The most recent time, in 2018, had him returning to writing novels, but Archetype offered him something he very clearly seems to have known he was missing. "With Archetype, my passion has been rekindled. The feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare; I can feel magic in the air."

Karypyshyn isn't the only one to have made a similar comparison between Archetype and BioWare pre-Electronic Arts acquisition. Archetype president Ohlen said forming the studio was "an opportunity to work on projects as personal to me as the good ol' days of the '90s and early 2000s," which were years Ohlen worked for BioWare. Several other major BioWare developers, including ex-BioWare Austin studio director Chad Robertson and ex-BioWare Austin creative director Jesse Sky, have also joined Archetype.

archetype sci-fi concept

Archetype's first game is going to be a brand new sci-fi IP as part of Wizards of the Coast's effort to expand beyond Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. While Wizards of the Coast clearly has high expectations for the studio, it's said to run as an autonomous division of the company. All that's known about the new IP is that it will be "a roleplaying game set in a science fiction universe." Mass Effect fans are likely already salivating.

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