Friends and former co-workers have mourned the death of John Gibson, a veteran of the UK games industry since the 1980s.
Word has spread on social media that John Gibson, a British games industry veteran whose career spans over 30 years, has sadly died.
At the time of writing, the exact cause and time of death are unknown, but friends and colleagues of Gibson have been taking to Twitter to express their condolences.
Gibson’s career as a programmer began in 1983 at Liverpool studio Imagine Software, which initially made games for the ZX Spectrum and other 8-bit home computers.
When Imagine shut down, Gibson helped found Denton Designs in 1984, where he worked on adventure game Gift From The Gods, as well as a game based on, and named after, British pop band Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
He was only at Denton Designs for a year, though, before moving onto Psygnosis, where his first project was on-the-rails shooter Microcosm, whose use of nascent CD-ROM technology is what encourage Sony to buy the studio.
Gibson remained at Pysgnosis as a senior programmer for most of the 90s, also working on titles such as Colony Wars and Sentient.
He left Psygnosis in 1998 to join the now defunct Warthog Games, which mostly made licensed games such as Star Trek: Invasion and Looney Tunes: Back In Action.
Gibson wound up returning to the PlayStation brand in 2003, as a principal programmer within Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. He spent the next 11 years there working on the MotorStorm racing series, although his last credited title (according to MobyGames) was 2014’s Driveclub.
While his LinkedIn profile states he still worked at Sony up until his death, a 2016 interview with Retro GamesMaster revealed he retired the year before.
In 1998, I created a Shockwave game called Jaw Wars, believing it to be an original idea.
John Gibson made some great games in his lifetime, including Molar Maul, whose mechanics I unwittingly copied. What a fantastic coding legacy he leaves behind.
Rest in peace Mr Gibson. https://t.co/4q2zwJLP9w
Sad to hear the news that John Gibson passed away recently. John was one of the pioneers of the video game industry in the UK. RIP ‘Grandad’. https://t.co/55vyTnYyig
Sad to hear that British programming pioneer John Gibson has passed on. He had an incredible career working at Imagine and Denton Designs early on, and later at Psygnosis and Sony Europe. His game credits span decades, from Zzoom to Drive Club. An amazing contribution to gaming. pic.twitter.com/QJjVQAM3FF
Just heard the devastating news that my old colleague and original Imagine alumnus John Gibson has left us. A proper legend of game development. Absolutely gutted. pic.twitter.com/3X7HbxrqnM
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