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Ion Storm Austin Studio Under 'Transition'?

Posted by simoniker on from the transitioning-into-the-sea dept.

madhatter256 writes "According to Shacknews, around 20-25 more employees, allegedly including noted designer Warren Spector, have left the Eidos-owned Ion Storm studio in Austin." There's an official Eidos response at GameSpot, where a spokesperson "denied Spector had exited the organization", but IGN has further official Eidos reports confirming "Both Ion games have been completed and those who were hires specifically for those titles are now finished", and noting that Spector himself, though he could theoretically be exiting by other means, "certainly has not been laid off." This news comes in the context of earlier personnel turmoil, Thief III's fairly well-received release (there's now a playable PC demo available), and a mixed reception for Deus Ex: Invisible War.

7 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. No concern... by WinnipegDragon · · Score: 5, Funny
    I have no doubt that Warren will land on his feet. He has a following akin to Peter Molyenieux, although DX2 might have jeopardized that a bit.

    A Haiku for him:

    Weep not for Spector,

    DX2 sucked anyhow,

    Here's to better days!

  2. Thief III is great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been playing it for about the last 24 hours non stop. It's pretty much exactly what I would have wanted, minus the loading zones in the city sections (which still aren't bad).

    I hope everyone at ION lands on their feet, and I also really hope that Eidos will actually shell out the incredibly minor amount of money that would be required to get the Editor in a releaseable state (though that's looking less likely).

  3. Re:Layoffs... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    No industry should have "normal staff reductions". That's complete bullshit, and I will openly boycott any company that ditches it's development teams as expendable.

    All employees are expendable except government civil servants. You are animals to be used and discarded when they're finished with you.

  4. Re:Layoffs... by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wow, you win the award for most insane post on the internet today.

    Well, I hoped you liked playing games because its a thing of the past for you if you are boycotting companies that lay people off when a project is done because thats all of them. On second thought, I'm sure you'll still find a way to play the games without paying because you seem like such an upstanding citizen.

    Is it unclear to anyone why this happens? Company needs to accomplish X. People are hired to accomplish X. X gets accomplished. People hired to accomplish X need to be reallocated. If there is no Y, people are reduced. Its the way the industry works. Not just video games, entertainment as a whole. You think Jerry Seinfeld is still sitting around making episodes of his show? No, the project ended. Yes it sucks, but everyone involved knows the deal before they start. I find E3 uncomfortable because I see so many people who used to work here working for other companies. It hurts, but thats how it goes.

    Look at the credits for any game and I'd wager from 30-50% of the names there are contract workers or outright temps. Not to mention what can happen when an independent developer is poorly managed. *shudder* You should consider yourself a temp every day you go to work, even if you are the CEO. Its just the way the game of games is played.

  5. Re:Layoffs... by black+mariah · · Score: 4, Informative
    Look at the credits for any game and I'd wager from 30-50% of the names there are contract workers or outright temps.
    That right there is all that needs to be said. These people are hired with the knowledge that when the project is over, their employment WILL BE TERMINATED. They are on a contract or temp basis. I know quite a few game artists. Most of them are run through revolving doors like crazy. One guy I know worked for three different companies on three different projects in one year. One would get done with whatever he was doing, so he had to move on. It's an accepted thing with videogame artists/programmers/designers/producers that for the first few years of their career they WILL be jumping from company to company.
    --
    'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
  6. Re:Layoffs... by johannesg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is why the Japanese games are so much better. They keep their teams apart, and thus keep their knowledge and experience in the company instead of taking it out with the trash after every project.

  7. Re:Raises a lot of questions for me by Doctor+Cat · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I worked with Warren back in the Origin days, on Ultima 6. He's a great guy and fun to work with, I can't buy any "nobody could get along with Warren" theory. The guys at Looking Glass insisted on having him as their producer for every project they did for Origin (Underworld, Underworld 2, and System Shock), he got along great with them too.

    I was just talking to one of the Ion Storm programmers a couple weeks ago (he lives across the street from me), and he was happy to be working there, didn't mention any problems or turmoil. Whatever changes are being made have almost certainly been decided upon by Eidos, that's the way these things go. Most game developers, when they get a steady, paying job, will try to stick with it until they don't have the option to do so any more. There are the highly publicized exceptions, of well known teams with a recent big hit under their belt splitting off to do something new, but those are pretty rare compared to the vast majority of folks just trying to stay employed and keep making games.

    --

    Furcadia - A free online game with user created content, DragonSpeak scripting, & more.