The lead writer for Mass Effect and other popular Bioware titles, Drew Karpyshyn, has left the company to join Wizards of the Coast’s Archetype Entertainment. The longtime Dungeons and Dragons developer has only recently revealed new details about its new video game creation studio, which is based out of Austin, Texas, saying that the company is currently in the process of building a multi-platform roleplaying game set in an all-new science fiction universe.
Wizards of the Coast seems to be building an all-star team of former Bioware employees, which makes sense considering how integral titles like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights were to spreading the Dungeons and Dragons experience to players who may not have encountered it before. Although a third Baldur’s Gate title is currently in the works, it looks as if the original creators of the series have their hearts set on something new, and that includes Drew Karpyshyn, who got his start at BioWare working on the Baldur’s Gate 2 game manual.
According to a new report by PC Gamer and confirmed via his personal blog, Drew Karpyshyn has announced that he is the new lead writer for Wizards of the Coast’s Archtype Entertainment. He joins Chad Robertson, BioWare’s former head of live service and current Archetype Entertainment General Manager, and spoke highly of his new studio, saying on his blog that while he will always be part of BioWare’s legacy forever, “I truly believe at Archetype we have the talent and the opportunity to do something just as amazing!”
Karpyshyn went on to describe how, when he first was hired at BioWare, everything felt like a dream job, especially working with talented people on games like Baldur’s Gate and Knights of the Old Republic. However, Karpyshyn says that as BioWare grew more and more successful, things began to change. “We became more corporate,” he says, “less able to make what we loved… the teams were pushed to create games based on market research rather than our creative instincts and passions.” Thankfully, it looks like the move to Archetype was the right one, as Karpyshan goes on to say his passion has now been rekindled and that “the feel in the studio reminds me of my early days at BioWare.”
This is good news for fans of the earlier BioWare titles like KOTOR, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. Passion, while it may not be everything, is one of the most important elements in game design, and players can easily tell the difference between a product which was created in order to make money and one which was made because the developers had a vision they wanted to see brought to life. Hopefully, Wizards of the Coast will offer that opportunity to these former BioWare employees, and allow them to fulfill their passion without too much corporate oversight.
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Sources: PC Gamer, Drew Karpyshyn
