Thief designer Randy Smith Evergreen refused to work for Xbox because it would be like 'walking past some stakes with human skulls on them' and pretending 'it's probably fine in this direction'

Randy Smith Evergreen had been pitching the idea to publishers for a while. A nonviolent RPG, in tune with the values of the Looking Glass games he worked on in the '90s, about a young American woman searching for her missing uncle in Eastern Europe. But the publishers weren't biting. Often, they'd tell Smith Evergreen how much they loved the Thief games he'd helped create, and he'd wonder whether he ought to just be pitching a spiritual sequel to that seminal stealth series instead. Then, Microsoft came calling... Read more.

Sep 14, 2026 - 16:00
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Thief designer Randy Smith Evergreen refused to work for Xbox because it would be like 'walking past some stakes with human skulls on them' and pretending 'it's probably fine in this direction'


Randy Smith Evergreen had been pitching the idea to publishers for a while. A nonviolent RPG, in tune with the values of the Looking Glass games he worked on in the '90s, about a young American woman searching for her missing uncle in Eastern Europe. But the publishers weren't biting. Often, they'd tell Smith Evergreen how much they loved the Thief games he'd helped create, and he'd wonder whether he ought to just be pitching a spiritual sequel to that seminal stealth series instead. Then, Microsoft came calling... Read more.
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