Smith, Smith Signal Shifts At Ion Storm

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Ion Storm's Harvey Smith, announcing his departure from the Deus Ex developer. Smith was "project director of Deus Ex: Invisible War and lead designer on the award winning Deus Ex", and says of his departure: "I am super excited about the possibility of creating a new studio. I've wanted to do this for years. I need a change of pace." The interview also confirms a story relayed yesterday via Blue's News, that the (unrelated) Randy Smith "is no longer the lead designer on Thief: Deadly Shadows, Ion Storm's upcoming installment in the stealthy series", somewhat surprising considering the proximity of the release date, set for mid-May.

Smith, Smith?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why so many? Is the Agent cloning himself again?

Re:Smith, Smith?

[shadowcabbit]

Why so many? Is the Agent cloning himself again?

Random Ion Storm Exec: "We're behind schedule. How do we fix this?"
Warren Spector, standing in front of four hundred Programmer Smiths: "...more."

Randy and Randy??

[dFaust]

I did this fascinating thing called "reading the article" and immediately noticed that this post should read, "interview with Ion Storm's Harvey Smith, announcing his departure from the Deus Ex developer".

Harvey Smith left and Randy Smith is no longer the lead designer on Thief. And they're still not related.

Re:Randy and Randy??

[simoniker]

Doh, worst. mistake. ever. Sorry about that, it's now fixed.

Sounds bad for Thief

[shrubya]

Warning: I know absolutely nothing about this game. However, I do know that when the top creative person in charge of a media project leaves shortly before said project is completed, things are looking mighty grim.

Was he fired/demoted because his work sucked too much ass, or did he quit in disgust because management crushed the project's soul? Either way, not a good thing.

Is there any precedent for a video game designed by Alan Smithee [imdb.com]?

Re:Sounds bad for Thief

[happyhippy]

No one would leave if a good game is going to be released. Face it, Thief 3 is going to be the shit stain of the franchise.

Thief III looking increasingly like a train wreck

[ninti]

The Thief series have been a couple of my favorite games of all time, but everytime I hear Thief III mentioned, it is in connection with some unfortunate news. It got juggled around for a long time, then a ton of the developers left a while back, and now this. I am afraid; I would hate to see this highly original and extremly enjoyable series die a miserable death, but it is looking increasingly likely at this point.

Lightweight brother

[duncanIdaho.clone()]

Randy Smith rules.

Re:Lightweight brother

[tossar]

Long live Randy Smith!