Ion Storm Inc.
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- This article is about the games software company. For astronomical phenomenon, see Ion storm.
Ion Storm Inc. (sometimes spelled ION Storm) was a Texas based developer of computer games that was founded by John Romero, Tom Hall, Jerry O'Flaherty and Todd Porter in Dallas on November 15, 1996.
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[edit] Dallas
The company was originally based solely in Dallas. The expensive Dallas office sat on the 54th and top floor of the JPMorgan Chase Tower. The first three games meant for development at Ion Storm and to be published by Eidos Interactive were John Romero's Daikatana, Tom Hall's Anachronox, and Todd Porter's Doppelganger. The last of these was subsequently cancelled and replaced by Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3. Dominion was already partially completed by Todd Porter's previous employer, 7th Level. Despite assurances that the game was nearly complete, development continued for over a year. When it was finally released it received poor ratings and equally poor sales. Daikatana was meant to be finished within 7 months of the founding of Ion Storm and was to be based on the original Quake engine. However, already behind schedule, the decision was made to port the entire game to the Quake 2 engine a good six months into development. Likewise, Anachronox was moved over to the Quake 2 engine.
Although Anachronox received critical acclaim for its vast storyline and characters, it too was commercially unsuccessful on its release in June 2001.
Romero and Hall left the company after producing Anachronox in July 2001. 4.5 years after the company's creation, Eidos Interactive, owner of Ion Storm, closed the Dallas offices.
[edit] Austin
In the fall of 1997, Warren Spector was asked to found the Austin branch of Ion Storm. By keeping well clear of the troubles at the Dallas office, Ion Storm (Austin) was more successful. It developed the highly successful and critically acclaimed Deus Ex. With the demise of Looking Glass Studios, Eidos Interactive secured the rights to the Thief franchise and together with Warren Spector tried to relocate as many of the Looking Glass team to Austin as was possible. After the closure of the Dallas office, the Austin office remained open to produce Deus Ex: Invisible War and Thief: Deadly Shadows until Warren's departure to "pursue personal interests outside the company" in 2004. A number of other senior staff also left at about the same time. On February 9th, 2005, Eidos announced that the Austin office would also close, meaning the end of Ion Storm as a company.
[edit] Games by Ion Storm
- Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 — (1998) (PC), produced by the Dallas branch, led by Todd Porter.
- Daikatana — (2000) (PC, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color), produced by the Dallas branch, led by John Romero.
- Deus Ex — (2000) (PC, PlayStation 2), produced by the Austin branch.
- Anachronox — (2001) (PC), produced by the Dallas branch, led by Tom Hall.
- Deus Ex: Invisible War — (2003) (PC, Xbox), produced by the Austin branch.
- Thief: Deadly Shadows — (2004) (PC, Xbox), produced by the Austin branch.
[edit] Trivia
- Recently, co-founders Tom Hall and John Romero guest hosted Ep. 53 of the podcast The Widget.
