John Gibson, CEO of Tripwire Interactive, just stepped down after publicly voicing his support for the anti-abortion law enacted by the state of Texas, in the USA. Due to these statements by the manager, many of the company’s partners have begun to distance themselves from Tripwire. Among these we find Torn Banner Studios (Chivalry II) e Shipwright Studios (Maneater), which forced Gibson to resign.
Tripwire Interactive: CEO resigns after anti-abortion statements
Texas recently introduced a new anti-abortion law, known as Senate Bill 8. This controversial law bans abortion after six weeks and goes so far as to allow private citizens to sue those who carry out this practice or anyone who is even suspected of helping a woman terminate a pregnancy.. Basically, this measure targets women who want to have an abortion, making them almost criminals.
Gibson publicly said he was in favor of this law via a tweet and his position was quickly criticized by many of his colleagues, to the point that a few hours later one of Tripwire’s main development partners, Shipwright Studios, stated the following: “We cannot in all honesty continue to work with Tripwire under the current leadership structure. We will begin the cancellation of our existing contracts with immediate effect ”.
Gibson’s comments were clearly opposed from within Tripwire as well, since a few hours ago the CEO resigned. The news was announced by the company with a rather clear statement that reads: “John Gibson’s comments are the fruit of his opinion and do not reflect the values of Tripwire Interactive as a company (…) his comments have ignored the positions of the whole our team, our partners and much of our community. Our Tripwire leadership team is deeply sorry and is committed to acting quickly to foster a more positive environment. ”