Jay Gunn (Jason Wilson), co-creator of MediEvil action-adventure series, reached out to his fans on Twitter today to announce his decision to sell his prized BAFTA Game of the Year award. He had to come to such a difficult decision owing to financial struggles and inability to find suitable work in the gaming industry, despite his 27 years of experience as a game designer.
UPDATE (November 27, 2023): Jay has taken down the original X post.
After he put his award and a promotional metal statue of MediEvil character Sir Dan-Hand, fans reached out to him to show their support. He has since decided not to part with his award – a symbol of his dedication and hard work. He wrote again, thanking his fans for their support and positive comments. He also deleted his initial tweet, replacing it with posts showcasing his skills and reaffirming hope about getting new work.
Gunn, despite his extensive experience as a creative director, art director, and lead designer for Sony’s more than ten AAA titles, has had to sell a part of his personal art collection. He opened up about his recent hospitalization due to stress and anxiety, and his struggle to get even an interview for game design positions despite his excellent track record.
Gunn Had To Resort To Selling His Prized Memorabilia Despite Creating The Popular MediEvil Series
In May 2023, he had to put his entire collection of MediEvil game design bible and art archives up for sale. MediEvil, created by Jay Gunn and Chris Sorrell, is an extremely popular action-adventure horror game series that started with MediEvil in 1998. Gunn received BAFTA’s Game of the Year for the title in 2000 for the second installment in the series, MediEvil 2.
The next installment in the series, MediEvil: Resurrection, came as an offering for Sony’s handheld PSP in 2005. The series was revived in 2019 for PS4, receiving lukewarm reviews. The MediEvil series, as a whole, has widespread popularity, with MediEvil and MediEvil 2 being some of the most popular PS1 games. The outstanding graphics and originality of unique puzzles were widely appreciated.
Despite creating such a popular and commercially successful game series, Gunn is forced to sell parts of his prized art pieces. Some are comic book arts, some are his own creations – including the complete artbook that consists of original concept art for gameplay and level design.
Gunn’s situation brings light to widespread problems currently faced by many talented video game developers and designers. In an industry that keeps boasting profits every quarter, we have seen layoffs of thousands of employees in the last year. And many are going through a similar situation as Jay.
2023 has been a trying year for those who actually build, design, and develop video games. According to an estimation by an unofficial source, over 8000 people have been laid off in 2023 in the video games industry. Mass layoffs have been happening in successful companies like Blizzard, Ubisoft, Epic Games, CDPR, and Bungie.
