Storied developer Warren Spector, best known for his work on games like Deus Ex, Thief and the Ultima series, said yesterday that he is “retiring from game development. At least I think so.”
In a statement posted to his Linkedin page, Spector says that having worked on 17 titles across 44 years in the industry, his “age and health” are catching up with him, and that after spending so many years in video games it’s time to “write some books, do a lot of reading, do some lecturing, maybe do some consulting”.
Lamenting that “there are three games in particular I’d still like to make”, Spector adds “the game business has changed and it’s just not as much fun for me anymore. Plus there’s a new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun.”
While a designer will always have ideas they never get the chance to see turned into games, I think Spector leaves a pretty damn healthy legacy of titles we did get to play, love and keep playing decades later. Alongside the three I’ve already listed, he also worked on System Shock, the Wing Commander series (and some of its spin-offs, like Wings Of Glory), EA’s cult classic Crusader: No Remorse and Epic Mickey.
(If you’d like to read a lengthy account of these and all the other projects he’s played a part in over the years, there’s no better place than Spector’s own personal blog).
You can read his full statement below:
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.
I’ve had a great career. Wouldn’t change a thing even if I could. But the reasons to retire are simple: I’m a month away from my 44th year as a developer. I’ve had the chance to work on tabletop roleplaying games and boardgames. I’ve worked on more digital games than I can remember – 17 full games, I think, and 9 or so add-on packs. Gratifyingly, some of those games are still being played 15… 20… 30 years later. And most of them have been in a genre that has had influence beyond what I or anyone else expected. I’ve run teams as small as a dozen and as big as 800. I’ve worked for big companies and done startups. I like to think I’ve helped some insanely talented people along in their careers. (That last is the most important.)
With all that behind me and with age and health (my business) catching up with me I’m feeling like I’ve done what I set out to do. It’s time to write some books, do a lot of reading, do some lecturing, maybe do some consulting. (Feel free to get in touch about those last two.) Also there’s a keyboard here just waiting for me to get my piano chops back.
I definitely have mixed feelings about this. I mean there are three games in particular I’d still like to make. (One is very big… one is very small… and one I don’t know how to make which scares me.) But the game business has changed and it’s just not as much fun for me anymore. Plus there’s a new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun.
To all of you reading this I want you to remember that games are not a solved problem yet – there is, I hope, plenty of experimentation and innovation to come. And 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.
Will I come back? Never say never. But I think it’s time to ride off into the sunset.
Now stop reading and make great games.
