There were rumours of a fourth title, and in fact, Ion Storm was planning on developing it before going out of business. There are even those who refuse to include it in the series as a whole, saying that Thief: The Dark Project, Thief Gold and Thief II: The Metal Age are the true Thief games. Some claimed that it was in a bid to ‘dumb down’ the game for the Xbox, and therefore dubbed it “ Thief Lite”. It wasn’t a particularly popular title among fans and purists, as many of the features that made the Thief universe what it is, were not included, and some complained that although it was generally good, it felt too different. Thief: Deadly Shadows, by Ion Storm, came out in 2004 and was once again thwarted by the hype and subsequent release of Doom 3 and later, Half-Life 2.
