TimeExtension has reported that veteran game developer John Gibson has passed away.
John’s most recent game was the online racing game DriveClub from 2014, on the PlayStation 4. However, he can trace his video game career as far back as 31 years before, with ZX Spectrum games Zzoom, a science fiction themed flight combat sim, and Molar Maul, an arcade action style game.
John’s career was closely tied to Sony and its PlayStation, starting with Sony’s acquisition of Psygnosis when he was an employee there. He stayed with Psygnosis until 1998, when he became a part of Warthog Games.
And then, in 2003 he joined Evolution Studios, bringing him back to make games exclusively for Sony .
John’s modern games career stands as a contributor to the entire MotorStorm franchise, and then DriveClub. If you played the original MotorStorm in 2006, or any of the following games, including the one PlayStation Vita MotorStorm game, John was a part of that too.
As noted by Kevin Edwards on Twitter, John was one of the pioneers of the game industry in the UK. Even as he continued his career through the most state of the art video game consoles that we had seen, he lived through UK’s micro-computer boom, and the beginnings of the PlayStation era.
What follows below is a list of some of John’s other notable games in his career:
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – This 1985 game was released on the ZX Spectrum by Denton Designs, a studio that John co-founded. Riding off of the eponymous band’s popularity after their breakout hits Relax and Two Tribes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood is an adventure game where you play a plain ordinary man trying to make your way to PleasureDome by finding every hedonistic thing you can do in game.
Microcosm – A 1993 3D shooter that featured full FMV and a storyline inspired by Fantastic Voyage. A CEO has been literally invaded in his boy by his rival company’s goons, and it’s up to you to go through his body and save him by killing every member of their miniaturized army. John worked on the DOS, 3DO, and Amiga CD 32 versions.
Star Trek: Invasion – John got to work on the PlayStation version of this space combat sim released in 2000.
Motorstorm – this 2006 racer game holds the Guinness record for the most variety of vehicles in a racing game. Pairing that with 12 person online multiplayer and real time deformation in the tracks, and this game demonstrated Evolution Studios’ ambition.
DriveClub – simultaneously the biggest game Evolution Studios ever made and the one that led to their downfall, it is still arguably a career highlight for every developer who worked on it. You race in a club with six other real life racers online, with each of your accomplishments adding to the team’s total standing. DriveClub was an early hit on the PlayStation 4, but issues with meeting expectations would eventually lead to the studio being bought out, and eventually incorporated, into Criterion Games.
GameRanx sends their condolences to John Gibson’s friends and family.
