Deus Ex Creator Retired from Game Development

Game designer Warren Spector, the creator of Deus Ex, Ultima Underworld, and System Shock, is retiring from development, as he announced on LinkedIn.

His reasons are simple: he feels like he's done what he wanted to do, and now it's time to write books, read, "do some lecturing" and perhaps consult other developers. "Also there's a keyboard here just waiting for me to get my piano chops back."

"I'm a month away from my 44th year as a developer. I've had the chance to work on tabletop role-playing games and board games. 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 an 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."

This does not mean the end: Spector himself is not sure his absence will last. "I've been here before and changed my mind but this time I'm pretty sure I mean it," he said, adding that there are 3 flames he still wants 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, he admitted, and it's not as much fun for him anymore. "Plus there's a new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun."

"Will I come back? Never say never. But I think it's time to ride off into the sunset."