Subject: Rolling Stone feature

Hi Todd.

It's Cynthia True formerly for Details...now for Rolling Stone! I assume you are aware the Storm story is going in RS's November issue.

Since we talked so long ago, I need to do a little re-reporting. Following are a few questions. I'm e-mailing to expedite the process but if you are more comfortable discussing over the phone, give me a ring at 512-451-9845. Many thanks.

1. You took over as CEO when Mike Wilson left the company, is that correct?

[Todd Porter] No, actually it was a months later. I started dealing with the biz side then, and I slowly grew more and more involved. Eventually my partners made me CEO.

2. What’s up with Doppelganger? Is it being delayed for the forseeable future or is it in development?

[Todd Porter] As you can imagine, I found myself buried in business details from the point Mike left on. This was difficult enough when Dominion was in its final stages, but almost impossible when you added in Doppelganger. I appealed to both Eidos and my partners to slow the project down until I had a chance to reorganize the various departments and assume control of this rather large vessel; Ion. I think you could accurately describe it as delayed for the forseeable future, but also still in modest development.

3. There have also been some speculation regarding layoffs at the company. Would you care to comment?

[Todd Porter] Speculation? You mean you've read one of the 50 web sites that report our every move...hehe. At the end of Dominion I had 8 programmers. That's way too many for normal development so I cut 3. The remaining 5 who were supposed to move to Doppelganger, actually went to Daikatana and Tech groups to help that product (and our others) ship on time. We had 2 cut from QA as they were no longer in full testing mode (Dominion had shipped). Because I had all artists and no programmers on Doppelganger, we decided with the slowdown of the project to eliminate that excess staff (I think 5). Two additional people left the Austin office as well. That's all the layoffs I know about.

4. Is is true that you are now concentrating entirely on business affair
(i.e. not designing games anymore)?

[Todd Porter] I'd say I spend 80% on business and 20% on design. I'm also overseeing the production schedules of all of our titles (Daikatana, Anachronox, and Deus Ex) to insure that they come out on time.

What was the reason behind that?

[Todd Porter] The reason was simple, we had grown to large to fast, had very few procedures or practices in place, and had almost no command structure for any of the departments. Reorganizing, cutbacks in staff, as well as a great deal of policy changes were required to keep us on course. For the most part we had a band-like mentality among the 4 original founders of Ion. We made the music, and our biz took care of the details. The only problem was the biz side became focussed on other desires (the G.O.D. deal for one). Once Mike decided to leave and pursue his dream, and with the dismissal of our COO, it was very important for me to get us back to the direction we were originally heading. This, it turned out, required a tremendous amount of my day.

I hope this helps, if you have any other questions, feel free to write.

Todd