James Ohlen is leaving BioWare

Soeren Kamper bioware, James Ohlen

James Ohlen tweeted that he is leaving BioWare to pursue personal endeavors

James Ohlen is one of the main reasons that kotor and dragon age origins were so great. He is a hardcore DnD/RPG fan.

It Seems like the pressure of anthem is hitting a lot of people at BioWare. Its almost a shame that BioWare got so popular and then bought out by EA. Their original games with a heavy focus on rpg elements is what made them great. They lost their touch as they were forced to make more “modern” titles leading to generic game play and less RPG elements.

But It’s business, plain and simple. Being an independent AAA game developer seems to be a challenge for most. I’m amazed Obsidian Entertainment has managed to go it alone for more than a decade. Bungie even broke the mold and returned to independence after being acquired by Microsoft. I think it’s much more common for successful independent studios to end up selling to publishers though. Respawn decided to sell to EA last year. Microsoft bought Mojang. Tencent bought Riot Games several years ago.

Author

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    Soeren Kamper is the founder of StarWars: Gamers and a longtime Star Wars writer, community builder, and gaming journalist with nearly two decades of experience covering Star Wars games and fandom. He began writing about Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2008, later co-founding the SWTOR wiki and founding the SWTOR subreddit, and became an early, active figure in the game’s community. His hands-on involvement led to invitations from BioWare Austin and participation in SWTOR events during the game’s launch era. His work is grounded in long-term franchise knowledge, firsthand gaming experience, and deep roots in the Star Wars community.

Soeren Kamper

Soeren Kamper is the founder of StarWars: Gamers and a longtime Star Wars writer, community builder, and gaming journalist with nearly two decades of experience covering Star Wars games and fandom. He began writing about Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2008, later co-founding the SWTOR wiki and founding the SWTOR subreddit, and became an early, active figure in the game’s community. His hands-on involvement led to invitations from BioWare Austin and participation in SWTOR events during the game’s launch era. His work is grounded in long-term franchise knowledge, firsthand gaming experience, and deep roots in the Star Wars community.