Gaming industry veteran and Deus Ex director Warren Spector has just officially announced his retirement. In a statement on his personal LinkedIn, Deus Ex‘s Warren Spector reflects on his 40+ year career and explains why he’s taking a step back from developing games, a decision he has “mixed feelings” about.
While Warren Spector has worked on tabletop games, comics, and novels, he’s best known for his work in the world of video games. Spector joined the gaming industry in 1989, making his debut as co-producer of Origin Systems’ Ultima 4, Wing Commander, and Bad Blood. Spector went on to work for both Looking Glass and Ion Storm, where he produced System Shock, directed the original Deus Ex, and oversaw development on Thief: Deadly Shadows. Spector then joined Disney Interactive in the 2000s, where he directed the Epic Mickey series. Spector’s most recent gaming project was Thick as Thieves, a stealth-action heist game released in May that received mixed reviews.
Warren Spector Is Retiring From Video Game Development
Announced via a LinkedIn post, Warren Spector is officially retiring from the video game industry. Spector’s post begins with a fairly concise statement from the industry veteran: “Let me cut right to the chase. I’m retiring from game development. At least I think so. I’ve been here before and changed my mind but this time I’m pretty sure I mean it.”
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Spector then briefly reflects on his lengthy career in the video game space. Spector says that he “wouldn’t change a thing even if [he] could,” and lists some of his biggest achievements, highlighting the 17 full video games he’s worked on, the “9 or so” add-on packs, and the tabletop RPGs and board games he’s helped to create, some of which he joyfully states are still being played decades after their initial release. But the biggest highlight of Spector’s career, according to the developer himself, is the notion that he’s helped “some insanely talented people along in their careers.”
With all of this experience laid out, Spector then goes on to explain his recent decision to step away from video game development. According to Spector, “with age and health (my business) catching up with me I’m feeling like I’ve done what I set out to do.” Spector goes on to say that he has “mixed feelings” about this, as while it’ll give him time to “write some books, do a lot of reading, do some lecturing, maybe do some consulting,” there are three games the veteran would reportedly still like to make, one of which is “very big,” one is “very small,” and the other he says he doesn’t know how to make, which is something that “scares” the seasoned creator.
But in addition to his age and health concerns, Spector states that “the game business has changed and it’s just not as much fun for [him] anymore.” Spector also highlights that there’s a “new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun,” and he uses the last lines of his retirement announcement to address them directly, saying “to all you young developers out there, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, your job is to make people forget people like me ever existed.”
- Released
-
June 23, 2000
- ESRB
-
M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Ion Storm
- Publisher(s)
-
Eidos Interactive
- Engine
-
Unreal Engine 1
