Acclaimed game designer Warren Spector has announced his retirement from game development.
After a number of years creating tabletop RPGs, Spector joined Origin Systems in 1989 and co-produced Ultima 6 and Wing Commander. In the decades that followed, he created the Deus Ex series, was creative director of Epic Mickey, and worked on acclaimed titles such as System Shock, Crusader: No Remorse, and Thief: Deadly Shadows.
In a post on his LinkedIn page, Spector stated that while he was proud of his career, he feels that he’s accomplished what he started.
“Let me cut right to the chase,” he wrote. “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 start-ups. 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,” Spector says of his retirement
In recent years, Spector has experienced some frustration, particularly with his planned System Shock 3 game, which he implied in 2022 had essentially been killed off.
His most recent game, the stealth heist adventure Thick As Thieves, was released in May. Weeks later, developer Otherside confirmed it had laid off the majority of its staff and ended planned post-launch development on the game.
Despite his claim that “I’ve done what I set out to do”, Spector added that he wasn’t entirely at ease with his decision to retire, and that he still had at least three ideas for games he wanted to do, but implied that this was no longer feasible with the current state of the games industry.
“I definitely have mixed feelings about this,” he wrote about his retirement. “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.”
