Behind the scenes, the enormous ambition of even the cut-down narrative created a beast that Ion Storm had a hard time taming. “The team ended up being very factional,” remembers Smith. “We basically had three different groups, trying to craft three different games. Deus Ex was born of that conflict.” Spector concurs, “The idea that we could provide a little something for everyone, regardless of what playstyle they preferred, did grow out of some occasionally hairy internal struggles. Frankly, I’ve often felt like the most important thing I did on Deus Ex was prevent a fractious team of incredibly talented people from killing one another!”