A little more than four years ago, John Gibson stepped down from his role as CEO and co-founder of Tripwire Interactive following a controversy sparked by his tweet supportive of the Texas Heartbeat Act, which banned abortions in the state after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity.
For a while, Gibson, who started as a programmer on the America's Army series (developed and published by the US Army) and then went on to co-found the studio known mainly for Red Orchestra and Killing Floor, remained out of the games industry. That changed around two years ago, when he started consulting for Bible X, the studio behind the Christian-based game project Gate Zero. Last month, Gibson, through his recently established publisher Templar Media, acquired the developer.
I recently interviewed him to discuss the investment and the game itself, although we started with an explanation of Templar Media's slogan: "Entertainment First." Gibson wants to deliver games that focus on the fun factor rather than pushing a political agenda, as he said games (and other media) have been doing lately.
I was formerly the co-founder, co-owner, and CEO of Tripwire Interactive. Now, I am leading Templar Media. I founded Templar Media earlier this year. After selling Tripwire, I took a break, but I realized I wanted to get back into games. I noticed that in a lot of media, the focus had shifted away from pleasing the player or the viewer. Instead, it was often about whatever commentary or message a developer or entertainer wanted to convey. This is where our slogan, "Entertainment First," originated. I wanted to establish a company focused on creating great content that people truly enjoy. While everyone aims to make something great, players can tell if your primary focus is not on building an entertaining and fun game. Our goal is to make great, entertaining content.
[...] We are catering to an underserved mainstream market. In America and somewhat in Europe, the people creating entertainment often represent a monolithic political block. However, consumers are not a monolithic block and do not necessarily share the same views as those making the entertainment. There is an underrepresented majority that wants entertainment without a specific agenda.
Later, the former Tripwire executive referenced Dragon Age: The Veilguard specifically, where the Qu'nari companion Taash eventually transitions to non-binary and has a significant discussion with their mother, Shathann (an NPC), about it during a personal quest.
When I was growing up, movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones or games like Zelda and Metroid were about entertaining you, not an agenda. This has been lost in much of modern entertainment. For example, in the new Dragon Age game, there is a cutscene where the player is lectured about pronouns. We experience entertainment to forget about day-to-day politics and just have fun. Entertainment needs to go back to focusing on entertaining people. While our first game is faith-based, we are not afraid to tell those stories to an underserved market and to anyone who simply wants great content without modern agendas. As a company owner and designer, you must focus on what the customer will enjoy, not just your own preferences.
You can look forward to our full interview with John Gibson soon. Meanwhile, vote in the poll below and share your opinion in the comments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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