Warren Spector is one of the most respected names in the game industry. He has had a hand in some of the most well regarded games ever released, including the first two Deus Ex games when he worked at Ion Storm and Eidos. He also helped to develop the Thief series, Ultima Underworld, System Shock and more. However, Spector now believes that a lot of current games are just too violent.
In a new interview at Gamesindustry International, Spector states that he left Eidos because he said that during E3 2004, he noticed that other games being released by the same publisher, such as Hitman, had a lot of violent content that he didn"t care for. He states, "I looked around my own booth and realized I just had one of those "which thing is not like the other" moments. I thought it was bad then, and now I think it"s just beyond bad."
While the Deus Ex games certainly have some violent content on their own, Spector says, "... they were designed to make you uncomfortable, and I don"t see that happening now." He adds:
The ultraviolence has to stop. We have to stop loving it. I just don"t believe in the effects argument at all, but I do believe that we are fetishizing violence, and now in some cases actually combining it with an adolescent approach to sexuality. I just think it"s in bad taste. Ultimately I think it will cause us trouble.
After leaving Eidos, Spector formed a new game development company, Junction Point Studios, in 2005 that was later acquired by Disney Interactive. In 2010, the studio released its first game, Epic Mickey, a Wii exclusive title. Junction Point will release a sequel, : Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, in late 2012 for the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3.