You may recently have read reports that Thief III designer Randy Smith has departed Eidos' studio ION Storm in Austin - rumoured to be over 'creative differences'. Today, designer Harvey "Witchboy" Smith has also announced that he is departing the company, and perhaps this extract from a GameSpy interview hints at similar reasoning: "I am not satisfied with anything short of a magical experience. I think Deus Ex and Invisible War came close in many ways, but we can do better. (In retrospect, I now rate the patched versions of those games as 90% and 85%, respectively.) I believe that we should have focused a bit more, rather than trying to do everything well."

Deus Ex 2 was received with mixed reviews critically, many articles noting the 'middle-ground' the sequel entered to appeal to the simpler tastes of the console mass market, in the process partly alienating the die-hard fans that so relished the original. Whether this, and the direction of ION's next release Thief III, are behind the departure of the two Smiths is unknown, what isn't is the loss that will be felt at the studio by these two veteran's departing. Indeed, quite what the future holds for ION Storm remains a mystery, with rumoured to be creating the next Deus Ex title in collaboration with Crystal Dynamics.

By Luke Guttridge