Midway, BlackSite director part on a bad note

It’s official: Blacksite: Area 51 (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) creative director Harvey Smith, one of the developers behind Deus Ex, and parent company Midway Austin have parted ways after Smith’s “public resignation”. This ends the partnership that the two began in 2004 after Smith bolted his old team by dishing out strong words in a recent interview.

Texas-based studio Midway Austin and its creative director Harvey Smith have parted ways days after an incident which saw Smith give the firm a tongue-lashing. Referring to the BlackSite: Area 51 (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) project, Smith expressed his dismay over how Midway handled its business.

“This project was so f***ed up,” Smith said in a recent Wired interview. “With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails… It went straight from alpha to final.”

Smith noted that Midway went ahead with shipping and sale without the necessary tests to ensure BlackSite: Area 51‘s quality. He even complained of how limited resources were for the development effort. “Everyone was forced to share tech. It took eight months to get one thing working,” he adds.

Smith’s departure was confirmed by Midway Austin studio head Denise Fulton. She refused to give any comments about the resignation but revealed that Smith was technically still a Midway employee when he made his feelings public.

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