PlayStation veteran John Gibson has died

PlayStation veteran and programmer John Gibson has passed away.

As reported by VGC, Gibson had an illustrious career spanning an incredible four decades but he’s perhaps best known for his stints at both Psygnosis and Sony. Gibson kicked off his career in 1983 at Imagine Software after teaching himself to write machine code on a ZX81 computer. By the time Gibson joined Imagine Software in his 30s, he was referred to as Grandad by the rest of the very young team.

At Imagine, Gibson worked on several major games including Molar Maul (1983), Zzoom (1983), and Stonkers (1983). He was also a programmer on Bandersnatch, a project that set out to be a ‘mega game’. Unfortunately, Imagine went bankrupt and Bandersnatch was never released.

Gibson then co-founded Denton Designs, releasing Gift From the Gods (1984), the Frankie Goes to Hollywood game (1985), and Cosmic Wartoad (1985). He then spent a period working as a freelance programmer before joining Psygnosis in 1990. There, he worked on Microcosm (1993) and Sentient (1997).

Gibson went on to spend the vast majority of his career over at Sony, creating PlayStation titles. He’ll particularly be remembered for his contributions to the company’s racing output. Gibson was a programmer on WRC 4 (2004) and WRC: Rally Evolved (2005), in addition to MotorStorm (2006), Pacific Rift (2008), Apocalypse (2011) and RC (2012). He also worked on DriveClub (2014).

Many have been paying tribute to the industry legend. Colleague Andy Toone wrote, “Very sad to hear John Gibson has passed away. He was one of the first people I worked with after leaving college – joining Psygnosis to write Microcosm. A lovely, patient guy with a great sense of humour.”

Twitter user Work3Studio said, “Woke up to find out my old coworker, bass player, friend and creator of some of the first-ever home computer games, John Gibson has left us. I'll never forget you gleefully telling a producer to ‘f**k off’ as you rightfully left the office on time. RIP Gibbo.”

GAMINGbible extends its condolences to Gibson’s friends, family, and colleagues.