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Specter of a Spector Departure?

[May 28, 2004, 2:35 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Shacknews is reporting that "multiple sources" inform them that Warren Spector "is said to be leaving" ION Storm, reporting the Austin Texas-based developer has also laid off 20-25 employees. Ion Storm Implodes is the headline on a similar story on IGN, which reports on the layoffs, as well as Eidos' explanation that this was a normal staff reduction associated with the completion of the pair of game projects that were underway at ION, quoting the publisher as dismissing the idea that Warren was laid off as well, though they don't actually come out and say he did not quit. They have yet to receive a reply from ION Storm, but this was Eidos' response to questions about Warren's departure:

"Ah rumors... well that sounds like a good one... but it is just a rumor," said the representative. "He certainly has not been laid off."

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69.

Re: My two

May 30, 2004, 10:34

Shadowcat

Anyway, If Warren is gone from ION perhaps he will go back to being a game designer at a new company instead of being a clueless "game manager" in charge of different teams. Something he obviously wasn’t good at. AFAIK, Warren has more often been a producer than a designer. That's certainly not to say he doesn't have input (people tend to wear multiple hats), but I think it is a false impression based on the success of Deus Ex and the association of his name with a number of othe highly regarded games that has led to people imagining that he is a brilliant PC game designer responsible for the design of all those games. His primary skills when it comes to developing computer games do appear to be more people-oriented than design-oriented. In case I was talking rubbish, I've just checked mobygames (which if not entirely comprehensive, should be pretty representative), which gives him the following credits for 27 titles. Some of the credits (such as documentation and writing) tend to be shared with others. Producer (9) Producer & Writing / Dialogue / Story (1) Documentation & Producer (3) Documentation (4) Producer and Project Director (1) Studio Director (2) Additional Material (1) Special Thanks (5) Uncredited (1) Now either he's extremely modest with regards to his credits, or he has never been the major game design god that so many people seem to think he is or was (no offense intended to Warren here -- I just think that people have the wrong idea of what his role has tended to be). Personally, I think it's a bit of both these things, as I think he is a fairly modest sort -- he's certainly always the first to point out in interviews how a game is the result of a team effort if the interviewer seems to be implying that he virtually did it all himself. This comment was edited on May 30, 10:40.

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