A video game company is dealing with the fallout of its creator offering up support for a highly controversial abortion law passed in Texas last week. On Saturday, Tripwire Interactive studio head John Gibson tweeted praise for the law that bans abortions after a woman has been pregnant six weeks as well as other measures that aim to legally target people who aid women in getting reproductive healthcare including abortions.
Proud of #USSupremeCourt affirming the Texas law banning abortion for babies with a heartbeat. As an entertainer I don’t get political often. Yet with so many vocal peers on the other side of this issue, I felt it was important to go on the record as a pro-life game developer.
— John Gibson (@RammJaeger) September 4, 2021
“As an entertainer I don’t get political often,” Gibson wrote. “Yet with so many vocal peers on the other side of this issue, I felt it was important to go on the record as a pro-life game developer.”
Subsequent reporting revealed, however, that Gibson had put his own band into a game the studio made, Killing Floor 2, which included anti-abortion lyrics.
Okay so
In like five minutes of research, it's become clear that Tripwire president John Gibson put his own christian metal band in Killing Floor 2, including the song Disunion Reconstructed which features these lyrics pic.twitter.com/JteaBmw0Oc
— Imran Khan (@imranzomg) September 5, 2021
That set off a wave of outrage among gamers that has resulted in the studio’s business being impacted directly. As The Wrap detailed, a partner studio subsequently canceled its relationship with Tripwire Interactive as a direct result of the comments via a statement the company released on Sunday.
“While your politics are your own, the moment you make then a public matter of public discourse you entangle all of those working for and with you,” Shipwright Studios said in a a statement released Sunday.“We know it is difficult for employees to speak up or act out in these scenarios, and they many not feel comfortable to speak their minds. It is regrettable, but we feel it would be doing ourselves, your employees, your partners, and the industry as a whole a disservice to allow this pattern to continue without comment.”
The statement concluded. “We started Shipwright with the idea that it was finally time to put our money where our mouth is. We cannot in good conscience continue to work with Tripwire under the current leadership structure. We will begin the cancellation of our existing contracts effective immediately.”
The backlash continued through the weekend, with many people suggesting people upset by the support work to “ignore” games from Tripwire on platforms like Steam.
[via The Wrap]