Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
thaumaturgist of the Coastannounced in the first place today that the company would be launching a stigma new studio in Austin , Texas , that will be headed by industry veteran James Ohlen . Ohlen is famous for a 22 - year vocation at BioWare that saw him garner design and writing credits forDragon Age : Origins , Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic , Jade Empire , Neverwinter Nights , and theBaldur ’s Gateseries .
Ohlen stated when heleft BioWarethat he want to get back toDungeons & Dragons , a game he love , launching Arcanum Worlds , a publication venture he co - founded and one that will publish a new adventure book called Odyssey of the Dragonlords . Ohlen has a pedigree in office - playing games , and Wizards of the Coast has made a push to digitize its tabletop offerings , with the recentMagic : Arenaonline biz garnering hundred of M of sentiment on Twitch and generating anesports tournament seriesthat will present $ 10 million in 2019 alone .
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adept of the Coast ’s newfangled studio will have a strong get-go with Ohlen at the helm , a hint designer who can draw on decades of role - playing game experience to craft whatever venture will be the first undertaking for the Austin - based company . Ohlen himself stated he was a little learn back by fall to play so quickly after he ’d publicly stated his wishing to set off for a while to pursue other ventures , but in a quotation released during the annunciation , he also acknowledged it was an chance he was intrigued by :
" I did n’t think that I would be arrive back to the game industriousness so before long but act upon with Wizards is a once - in - a - lifespan opportunity . Our mutual love of RPGs , world - construction , and synergistic storytelling is a perfect equal . "
It ’s ill-defined exactly what that friction match will end up producing , but it will involve something new , as the crush release also stated that the studio will focus on creating an " original IP outside of the Magic : The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons ' brand . " It ’s a curious conclusion kick in the resurgent popularity of both those franchises , but clearly adept of the Coast is look to expand its offering beyond its already successful IPs . Chris Cocks , the United States President of Wizards of the Coast , give way a vague clew as to the centering of the studio :
" James [ Ohlen ] brings experience in originative direction and studio apartment leaders that will prove important as we count to recrudesce compelling new experience that engage gamers all over the world . "
Whatever the compelling new experience that the Austin - based Wizards of the Coast studio will offer , it ’s going to be helmed by someone who is very able in return premium RPG contentedness to gamers . While the young IP will definitively not be found on an existing Wizards of the Coast property , there ’s still a chance we ’ll see a few crossing , and with a company like Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast behind it , Ohlen ’s new studio apartment has at once ground itself as one to watch as time pass . establish that Ohlen wanted to leave the biz industry for longer than he ’s been away , there must have been something very alluring on offering with the raw studio apartment , which should excite fans just as much as it ’s seemed to excite Ohlen ’s creative side .
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