Ion Storm is dead....

UberNeuman · Post by **UberNeuman** » Fri May 28, 2004 7:40 pm

From Shacknews....

Multiple sources tell us that all is not well at Deus Ex & Thief 3 developer ION Storm. Apparently some 20 - 25 people have been laid off at the Eidos owned Austin based developer. That's not all though as Warren Spector is said to be leaving the company as well. If we receive any more details we'll be sure to post them.

Update: Other sites have confirmed with Eidos that people have been let go, though Eidos denies that Spector is going anywhere.

Update 2: More details are coming in. It looks like people leaving/being laid off is just the start of it, as the company is also changing names..and going PS2 development only.

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Goodbye, Ion Storm - the last bitch is you...

At least we got Deus Ex, the only (imo) good game to come out from them...

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Sat May 29, 2004 7:53 pm

While I feel sorry for those laid off I don't really give a rats ass about ion storm or Warren Spector. DueshX and theif3 went backwards in the game evolution, IMO.

black_mongoose · Post by **black_mongoose** » Sun May 30, 2004 9:04 pm

too right deus ex was the greatest game of all time.
its sequel was crap and i refuse to acknowledge it as such.
ion storm had brilliant game concepts and designs. it was only when they went
big that they lost ALL their creativity and ideas.
and went for mass produced games to grab the largest demographic they could.
meaning that DX2 was horrible.

HitDoS · Post by **HitDoS** » Mon May 31, 2004 6:40 am

Reminds me of when Looking Glass closed up. It is a weird feeling to have for a company. Sort of like when your favorite band breaks up.

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Mon May 31, 2004 1:20 pm

I got this weird idea about games.

Maybe it's just me (tongue in cheek) but first priority to making a game is to make it run right. Then work on the other stuff. Too many game makers seem to have this backwards. They want to play with the visuals and the do dads and then worry about how the game actually runs.

DX2 and Thief3 are perfect examples. I just played the Thief3 demo and it runs like a dog. I'm so sick and tired of games that run like this. Maybe those guys that got laid off need to seek a different profession. Or get with a game maker that has their priorities straight.

You know that old Nvidia saying, "...they're smoking something hallucinogenic".

Well Ion Storm needs to start doing some drug testing.

black_mongoose · Post by **black_mongoose** » Mon May 31, 2004 6:55 pm

too right some of my most favourite games of all time had dodgy graphics, games like mario zelda and the early final fantasy games. because they had lower graphics expectations, the game could go fopr longer, ie: deus ex 1, even though ion storm had access to a better graphics engine, they decided against it, because it would have taken away for the plot of the story, even now when i play it i don't look for superior graphics, i look for hidden places or objects i didn't see the first time round. its that sort of game, it was designed to be played over and over again without losing its appeal.

in closing ION storm was great. before they made DX2 and went for graphics over gameplay. from now on i'm only going to play older (classic) style games that don't need high graphics or computer speeds to run.