The founder and CEO of Just Add Water Ltd, Stewart Gilray, sadly passed away from COVID-19 on Thursday 6th January 2022 aged 51.
Stewart was an industry veteran of more than 30 years working in games at various studios including Revolution Software in York, and others such as Psygnosis, Grolier Interactive, Runecraft and Bullfrog.
Stew finally set up Just Add Water Ltd in 2006 and the Yorkshire-based company is credited with revitalising the Oddworld franchise with releases of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee and Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! as well as creating titles such as Sniper Elite VR for Rebellion and Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality for Maze Theory.
Just Add Water also worked on its own IP, including the 2D blaster Gravity Crash for PlayStation PSP and Vita – Stew was a huge PlayStation fan first and foremost!
As well as the development side, Stew was also very active in Game Republic, and was a judge at the Student Showcase for many years, giving out awards to student teams and encouraging young people into the industry he loved.
You can also see Stew here talking on a BBC Look North report about the Game Republic Student Showcase in 2013. Always a passionate supporter of the Yorkshire games scene, he attended numerous Game Republic and GaMaYo events, and was always there at the end of the phone or on social media to offer support, help, advice and encouragement to fellow developers.
Those who knew him, were also very aware of his passion for music and playing guitar, and he was a huge (and very vocal) fan of the band Rush. Stewart Gilray was a funny, friendly, dedicated family man, musician and games developer – he will be sorely missed. Our hearts go out to his wife, two children and all of his family and friends.
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