A godfather of immersive sims and director behind some of our favourite games from the early 2000s, late 1990s, and 2010s, Warren Spector is a certified legend when it comes to game developers. Now, he's taking a big, almost surely permanent step away from the industry, as he announces his retirement.
Spector revealed his decision over on LinkedIn, where he explained that even though he's said in the past he's retiring and not meant it, this time is different. There are some regrets, "there are three games in particular I'd still like to make," Spector says, but he knows that the industry has changed. Moreover, as someone who has spent almost 44 years as a developer, he knows there are younger developers out there who will want "their time in the sun."
"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," Spector's post reads. With 17 full games released in his career, time spent working with teams big and small, Spector believes he's done it all.
Spector turns 71 in October this year, which seems like a pretty solid retirement age. He'd been working on games right up until this year, with the release of the unfortunately underwhelming Thick as Thieves. Even if that game didn't quite hit the mark, there is always Spector's back catalogue to pore over, and wonder how some of his games became so immersive 20+ years ago.
