Wizards of the Coast has hired Blizzard veteran Paul Della Bitta to lead its gaming division, Digital Ventures.
Bloomberg reports this. that he would report to the president of the Hasbro-owned company, John Hite. Bitta spent over a decade at Blizzard, spanning two different periods. He also worked at Superplay, Molten Games and Riot before co-founding Dreamhaven, where he headed the company's publishing business.
Meanwhile, James Olen, co-founder of Archetype Entertainment Wizards of the Coasts, is stepping down. He will continue to serve as the company's creative consultant and has been asked to “shift the creative focus” to tabletop role-playing games.
“At this point, James felt that his work on the game was complete and that the development and customization of the game was in good hands with the team,” said Abby Hodes, Hasbro vice president of corporate communications.
Olen joined Wizards of the Coast in 2019.having left BioWare a year earlier. The company announced Archetype in January 2020.. The studio announced its debut project Exodus at The Game Awards 2023; at this year's exhibition, It became known that the game will be released in early 2027..
Archetype's other co-founder and CEO, Chad Robertson, called Exodus “the tip of the spear” of Hasbro's move into the AAA gaming market.
“Exodus was created in such a way that it could not only be the basis for video games, but also a lot of other things,” he said of the project's intellectual property.
Hasbro has long coveted a spot in the AAA space; last year, the company reported GamesIndustry.biz that he invested $1 billion in development projects.
At The Game Awards 2025, Wizards of the Coast also announced Warlock: Dungeons and Dragons from Invoke Studios. This game is also scheduled to launch in 2027.
