Ion Storm had the most hyped studio in gaming — Daikatana killed it

Ion Storm was founded in Dallas in November 1996 by John Romero and Tom Hall, two of the most famous game developers in the world. They had co-created Doom and Wolfenstein 3D at id Software — the games that invented the first-person shooter genre. Time magazine declared 'everything that game designer John Romero touches turns to gore and gold.' The hype was enormous.

The Dallas office occupied a $2 million penthouse suite on the 54th floor of Chase Tower, with a crash room, gaming room, and lavish decor. The company signed a six-game deal with Eidos Interactive. Its first game, Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3, was expected to cost $50,000 and take three months — it cost over $100,000 and took more than a year. Poor reviews followed.

The flagship project was Daikatana, a first-person shooter promised for Christmas 1997. The development switched engines six months in, causing massive delays. The game arrived in spring 2000 — three years late. An infamous advertising campaign featured the line 'John Romero's about to make you his bitch.' The game received middling reviews and sold poorly. Romero later apologized for the ad.

Ion Storm's Dallas office closed in July 2001 after Romero and Hall left to form a new studio. The Austin office, run by Warren Spector, had produced the acclaimed Deus Ex — but even that success could not save the company. Eidos closed the Austin office in February 2005, dissolving Ion Storm entirely. A studio founded by the most celebrated developers of their generation was undone by its own hype and a single failed game.