Rich Carlson, a former Looking Glass Employee himself, sends along this letter from former designer Randy Smith, which is intended as an open letter to fans:

Hello LG Fans,
Yes its true, Looking Glass has gone out of business. Our office is closing tomorrow. I'm sure that this effects me as much as anybody, since as a fan and then as an employee, Looking Glass has always been my favorite company in the games industry. Dedicating myself to the Thief projects has meant a lot to me, and we had high hopes for Thief 3 and other projects beyond. I'm going to deeply miss Looking Glass and my brilliant, fun co-workers. I don't think the industry will ever be quite the same.

I want, on a personal level and on behalf of Looking Glass, to extend heartfelt appreciation to TTLG. Knowing that you guys were out there, watching and appreciating our efforts, has truly fueled our work. The things that you've accomplished on your sites are amazing, and knowing that it's all about us - Looking Glass and it's fans - is mindboggling. I slept on the floor of Doug Church's office for 13 days in a row during the making of Thief 2. I was working to make the game better, which I might not have done if I didn't know for certain that someone was going to notice. You owe a part of Looking Glass's products to yourselves, and we've been both proud and appreciative.

In particular, I want to thank Dan Todd and Saam Tariverdi for starting TTLG. Beyond them, there are too many names to mention, so consider yourselves thanked.

Sincerely,
Randy Smith, former LG designer and forever an LG fan

ps. Sadly, there is a low chance that Thief 3 will ever see the light of day, and its even less likely that if it did, a majority of LG folks would be involved. I hope I'm wrong, but I think that's the sad truth. But just so you know, we were going to do this whole cool open-ended, self-directed city thing, where you get to wander around the city and steal at your leisure, until, of course, Garrett gets mixed up in crazy affairs that draw him into a larger plot. You guys, in particular, would have loved it, I bet. And, yea, it was gonna be about the Keepers. Good guess.