Warren Spector has announced his retirement from video game development, noting the process is simply “not as much fun” for him anymore.
The legendary game developer dropped the news in a post on his LinkedIn account, noting that while he has made the decision to retire in the past and made a comeback, he feels this time it’s permanent. Here’s a snippet of his retirement announcement:
Let me cut right to the chase. I’m retiring from game development. At least I think so. I’ve been here before and changed my mind but this time I’m pretty sure I mean it. 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 start-ups. 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 (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 began his video game career working as a producer and writer on Ultimate VI: The False Prophet, and went on to work on a number of high profile titles including Wing Commander, System Shock, Dues Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and Epic Mickey among others. Prior to working in the games industry, Spector worked on tabletop role-playing games including Toon and Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game.
Back in 2024, Spector, who at the time was heading up OtherSide Entertainment, revealed that while he’d love to do a third Epic Mickey game, he noted that “I have a day job that would make that impossible.” Speaking during an interview with GamesBeat in 2022, Spector revealed that his studio had been working on System Shock 3 “in 2018 and 2019,” but that was the end of their involvement in the project.
Spector’s most recent project was Thick as Thieves, a stealth-heist title that is playable solo or co-operatively that launched for the PC back in May 2026.
[Source – Warren Spector LinkedIn via Eurogamer]