Ion Storm hat bald einen Mitarbeiter weniger. Der Projektleiter des aktuellen Spiels der Amerikaner, Deus Ex 2: Invisible War, Harvey Smith, hat angekündigt die Firma zu verlassen.
In einem Interview mit GameSpy gab er einen kleinen Einblick in seine Pläne für die Zukunft: Er würde gerne eine eigene Firma gründen, und spricht deshalb bereits mit drei Publishern. Es steht allerdings noch nicht fest, ob er die Finanzierung seines Projektes aufbringen wird. Smith dazu: „Es war wild von der Stabilität und Sicherheit bei Ion Storm weg-, auf diese Wand der Angst zu- bzw. durch sie durchzugehen und auf der anderen Seite herauszusehen. Ich empfehle diese Erfahrung jedem!„.
Das ist bereits der zweite kreative Kopf der Firma, der innerhalb weniger Tage abhaut. Auch Randy Smith (Thief 3-Projektleiter) hat sich ja erst kürzlich verabschiedet. Hier gehen Spekulationen aber eher in die Richtung, dass er irgendwelche Probleme mit einer Marketing-Entscheidung von Eidos hatte. Laut Harvey Smith haben diese beiden Abgänge aber nichts miteinander zu tun und fallen nur zufällig zusammen.
Belegschaft die peu à peu flöten geht? Nichts neues bei Spieleentwicklern. Erst just gab es eine Massenemmigration bei Blizzard, angeführt von einem der Diablo-Urväter – Bill Roper. Hier haben sich die einzelnen Programmierer zu einer neuen Firma (Flagship Studios) zusammengeschlossen, um gemeinsam Spiele zu produzieren.
Zum Abschluss noch ein Offener Brief von Randy Smith:
To my friends, contacts, colleagues, and mentors:
My five+ years at Ion have been unbelievably good. There were plenty of tense moments, but I’ve learned tremendous lessons. I feel extremely fortunate. How else could I describe the opportunities I’ve been given, the friends I’ve made and the games we’ve created? I love Deus Ex and Invisible War. I also think the world of Thief 3 and all the people working on the game.
Mostly, I’ve derived my feelings of good fortune from the people I’ve known over the last few years. I love it that you’ve helped me break a hundred bad habits. I love it that we’ve smashed our way around being clumsy sometimes, and that at other times we’ve constructed amazing, cool things.
I’ve spent over 10 years now making video games professionally. I still don’t know half the answers. Software engineering, writing, audio, visual art, and game design are all deep disciplines. But nothing compares to the hearts and souls of the people behind those disciplines, or the tenuous cultures that form and dissolve between us all the time.
With regard to the future, I don’t know exactly where I’m going or what I’m going to do. I’m considering a bunch of stuff, including some avenues outside of games. (That’s less realistic, though; most likely, I’ll want to make games and work with game teams for a long time. I feel like I’m just now getting good at what I do. I feel like I’m just now getting to the point where I can design games and help the people around me develop themselves at the same time.) Over the next few months, I’ll be fully devoted to figuring out what I want to do with the next few years. I have an idealistic vision of what I want to happen. Who knows if it’s feasible. One way or the other, I’ll be alright. I trust the world to show me a good time.
I think Ion’s future has great potential, moving into the next round of games. You’ve picked up some amazing talent and you’ve developed some amazing talent along the way. Eidos is seriously pulling it together … some of [its] recent moves demonstrate that pretty well. I wish Ion and Eidos the best of luck. There are too many of you to thank, really; I’ve worked with good people from Eidos all over the world. I’m leaving to pursue some dreams, not because I don’t like the company. I love this place and I hope I’ve contributed positively. I’ve just decided that I need to chase my vision. As a player, an avatar, or a game pawn, I want to test my agency.
If you see this letter (and if you’ve read this far), I hope that some moment you spent with me comes to mind. Preferably something good, something that makes you laugh or gives you a dramatic little chill … some conversation we had, some game we played, some lesson we learned, or some problem we solved together.
