John Gibson is the president of Tripwire Interactive. The company is the publisher of games such as Maneater or Chivalry 2. On Twitter, he expressed positive views about the new abortion law in Texas. This brought him a lot of criticism from the gaming industry and the termination of a developer studio.
Update September 7: In the meantime, Tripwire Interactive has made a statement on the issue and John Gibson has resigned as the company’s CEO.
What is Gibson criticized for? In a tweet, John Gibson praised the implementation of the controversial law banning abortions in the US state of Texas. Although he does not often express political opinions, he felt it was important here because many in the gaming industry opposed the law:
I am proud that the #USSupremeCourt upheld the Texas law banning abortions for babies with a heartbeat. As an entertainer, I do not often express political views. However, with so many vocal colleagues on the other side of this issue, I felt it was important to speak out as a pro-life game developer.
John Gibson via Twitter
However, the tweet brought him a lot of criticism in the gaming industry. For example, one of the developers of Gears of War, Cliff Bleszinski, called for Gibson to unfollow him on Twitter (via Twitter).
Several gaming companies that had previously worked with Tripwire Interactive are also distancing themselves from the statement. One of them, Shipwright Studios, has now even terminated contracts with the publisher.
First studio separates from Tripwire Interactive
What does the developer studio say? Shipwright Studios is a game developer brought on to complete games. They have worked on Legends of Aria, Chivalry, Scavengers, and Maneater. In a Twitter post, Shipwright announced that they have been working with Tripwire for over 3 years.
However, there will be no future collaboration between the studio and the publisher.
They consciously choose not to collaborate because it goes against the company’s ideals. While they have nothing against personal opinions, as soon as they are made public, they are immediately associated with the company and its partners.
It is unfortunate, but we believe that we would be doing a disservice to ourselves, your employees, your partners, and the entire industry if we allowed this pattern to continue. […].
We are immediately beginning to terminate existing contracts.
The developer Torn Banner Studios, the creators of Chivalry 2, have also commented and emphasized that the statement does not reflect the team’s opinion and that they are in fact of an opposite opinion. However, so far there has been no mention of a separation from Tripwire Interactive (via Twitter).
In addition, private individuals can file civil lawsuits against persons who assist pregnant women in seeking an abortion or information about it. These helping individuals can be sued for up to $10,000. It is considered the strictest abortion law in the USA and even President Biden has spoken out against it (via Zeit.de).
Gibson has already incorporated songs against abortion into games
Gibson’s tweet remained a footnote for a long time until the well-known gaming journalist Jason Schreier pointed it out (via Twitter).
Various users commented on this tweet, showing that Gibson already has a history with the issue of abortion:
- In the game Killing Floor 2, there is a soundtrack where it is sung how cruel and unjust abortion is (via Twitter).
- In further songs, Christian life is praised and the lives of non-Christians are criticized.
Twitter users are surprised that it only now seems to have become apparent to many companies what Gibson’s stance on the issue is.
Statements on the internet are increasingly leading to consequences
John Gibson is not the first person whose tweet or statement on the internet has led to consequences.
The “Guild Wars 2” developer Jessica Price already lost her job because she accused a community member of sexism on Twitter. However, this member was a popular content creator and was anything but sexist. This led to a lengthy dispute, at the end of which Price lost her job.
Recently, we reported on MeinMMO about a case where the social media officer of the company “Vertagear” was fired. He had tried to gain new followers using clichés and memes:
Company tweets about streamers on Twitch, receives sexism backlash, fires someone
