Ion Storm, long considered the "it" company in the computer-gamemaking world, is now striking out at the press in an apparent attempt to plug holes in its leaky ship.
Ion ION served an investigative reporter on Saturday with a subpoena that demanded she turn over emails and reveal her sources related to an exhaustive profile that appeared in last week's Dallas Observer.
In the piece, written by Christine Biederman, the formerly sizzling-hot company was depicted as having lost most of its heat through employee defections, loss of crucial investment money, and internal spats.
The story maintained that Ion, founded by some of the same people who wrote Doom, has gone through US$26 million, and the game that was meant to save the company, called Daikatana, will not meet its spring ship date. Biederman's research included numerous internal documents and emails.
Biederman said she would not oblige the subpoena. "I've been harassed over sources before and never revealed them. Everybody warned me that Ion was very litigious and this might happen. But you can't let that kind of thing deter you."
On the morning of 19 January, the day Biederman was told to show up for her deposition, Dallas Observer attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoena. The decision on that motion is still pending.
Biederman said she is confident. "Texas law has been pretty much in our favor on these matters."
Dallas Observer managing editor Patrick Williams also expressed confidence. He said he thinks the Ion subpoena is a desperate ploy by a desperate company.
"We'll give our lawyers some money. Ion Storm will give their lawyers some of their investors' money, and while this thing works itself out, the Observer will continue to publish. Chances are, the same thing can't be said about Ion Storm," Williams wrote in the Sunday edition of the Observer.
A call to Ion for comment was not immediately returned.
