Gaming icon Warren Spector has announced that the time has finally come for him to retire. Spector has made a number of critically acclaimed games such as Deus Ex and System Shock and was the director behind Disney’s highly-anticipated game at the time, Epic Mickey. Spector said in the post that his “age and health are catching up with me.”
“I’m retiring from game development,” Spector wrote on LinkedIn, “At least I think so. I’ve been here before and changed my mind but this time I’m pretty sure I mean.”
“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 startups. 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.”
I remember reading an interview with him in ONM.
I wish him well, he made one of my favorite childhood games.
Got to Press Garden Zone by the way. 6 / 7 emeralds. I have played it a few times before but never the PC version.
Glad to hear it! Have a great time with that game.
I wish him well and the best on his retirement. He has done well. Anyone can retired at any age.
I’m sure Warren Spector will be happy in retirement.