MGON recently had the chance to interview Warren Spector of Ion Storm,
developer of titles such as the highly popular Deus Ex. The focus of this interview was on
the state of the industry itself as well as where it's headed. Spector offers some interesting insights
into his perception of the way things are going for gamers.

According to Spector, the gaming industry is currently "on the cultural radar
just enough to be a target for crusaders but not enough to be worthy of
serious study." To elaborate, video games are definitely a target of politicians, who cite
them as being the next corrupting influence on America's youth (as were radio and TV in the past,
supposedly). The industry still tends to follow pop culture, rather than lead it.
Spector cites his team's own title, Deus Ex, as something inspired by shows such as X-Files and the like.
However, he's also confident that this stance will change sometime in the future. After all, the young people that are playing
games now will eventually become parents and will be much more comfortable with games
and the industry than their parents were, which will in turn bring about changes.

It's clear that Spector's vision of where the industry is headed is rather large, as shown by the below:

I bet we also see games that are far more abstract than anything
we see today and have no connection with the real world at all. And there's someone
out there now who's going to revolutionize gaming with an idea I can't begin to
imagine.

As far as Spector's own plans go, he mentions that he's interested in creating his own studio
to publish "immersive simulation games of the highest quality." He plans on doing this by
creating a work environment that creates analysis and argumentation in order to enhance
the quality of created games, as well as hiring only the best to work on those games.

One problem that Spector sees in the current industry is the discrepancy between game producers
in terms of budget. Some developers will spend as much as $5 million to develop a title, whereas
there are publishers that spend less that that simply to publish a game. This kind of fluctuation could create
increased risks, which translates to conservative investors. This, in turn, could lead to a lot of
quality games never seeing publication.

For more evangelism from Spector regarding his views on the industry, be sure to check out the entire
article. It provides some interesting insights into a noted game developer's mind.

Ion Storm

MGON - Interview with Warren Spector

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