Relic dev's widow thanks gamers

By Robert Purchese Published 15 September, 2010

"Simply stunned" by your generosity.

Erin Wood, the pregnant widow of recently deceased Relic developer Brian Wood, has offered her "heartfelt thanks" to gamers following the fatal tragedy of 10 days ago.

"Brian always told me about how close-knit and wonderful the videogame community was, but I had no idea until this tragedy just how special a group it really is," she wrote in an open letter to Kotaku. "From all the articles and comments, to the emails and donations, I am simply stunned and so touched by the love, kindness, and generosity shown to me and my family.

"As everyone knows, the last 10 days have been the most difficult, dark days of my life. But this journey has been eased tremendously by the thoughts, prayers, and well wishes received from friends, family, and strangers living all over the world. It is so meaningful for me to hear about how his work and enthusiasm for the industry has touched others.

"Brian was completely and utterly devoted to the game industry, and was pretty much living his dream every day. He woke up every morning excited to be working in such a creative, demanding field. It was such a joy to be married to someone who was absolutely passionate about his professional life."

"Thank you," she closed, "from the bottom of my heart for the compassion and support. It is so appreciated, and has been a light to me in this impossible situation."

Brian Wood, a developer on Company of Heroes, was killed in a car crash. He was 33 years-old.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • NimbusTLD #1 2 years ago

    :')

  • Ryboy #2 2 years ago

    Still saddens me this story. Nice to know our thoughts and messages have managed to reach her.

  • altitude2k #3 2 years ago

    @Ryboy

    Nice to know that certain messages reached her. The comments section for the original story here was pretty apalling.

  • Eraysor #4 2 years ago

    Shame this sort of thing will never be seen in the newspapers...

  • 00.00.01 #5 2 years ago

    Good for you Erin Wood. Life is going to be much tougher for you and the kids.
    Having said that, I suspect somewhere on our planet a Dev, a QA tester and a level designer have died too....

  • Ryboy #6 2 years ago

    @altitude2k - Have to agree with you buddy. Normally I couldn't give a monkey's about what some people say on here, but on that day I was actually ashamed to be a part of this community.

  • Dolly #7 2 years ago

    "Brian was completely and utterly devoted to the game industry, and was pretty much living his dream every day".

    Love this part. RIP dude x

  • bad09 #8 2 years ago

    See we gamers are awesome caring people...as long as we all like the same games and consoles that is!

    Best of luck to her I hopes shes finds happiness. Your loss is awful and the pain must be truly unbearable right now but his sacrifice was so you could go on living, always remember that and be happy in life.

  • 00.00.01 #9 2 years ago

    @bad09 15/09/10
    Ghehe I bet he was a true fan of the WiistationBox3. Do admire that she took the time to send a letter to 'that other website' to express her appreciation. Even gamers' wives are awesome caring people.

  • Dave52 #10 2 years ago

    mr writer, you beat me to it.

    This is a sad, sad story. I hope she can turn things around and get back to some sort of normality.

  • cianchristopher #11 2 years ago

    mr writer beat you to what?

    His post made little, if any, sense...

  • coolbritannia #12 2 years ago

    altitude, don't start.

  • riceNpea #13 2 years ago

    thanks for the follow up EG.

    good luck to her and the baby. if i were in her shoes i think i would find some comfort in the knowledge that there are people in the world who have no real connection to me but have still taken a moment of their time to wish me well.

    i'm happy messages left by gamers, perhaps even from the EG community, were relayed to her. i hope those who were so busy being deliberately confrontational, provocative and callous with their unsympathetic comments are ashamed of themselves.

    somehow though i doubt it.

  • Lexmeister #14 2 years ago

    Oh, let's all give it a rest...

    Some of us believe Brian's last actions showed heroic intent.

    Some of us doubt his "hero" status not because they thought Brian was a wanker, just didn't think the scenario very likely.

    Was he a hero? Maybe not to me. I didn't know him.

    His wife thinks he is. Hope my wife thinks the same about me in the same circumstances.

  • dr_faulk #15 2 years ago

    Fucking heartbreaking.

  • coolbritannia #16 2 years ago

    The thing is, I wasn't going to comment on this. However, why slag off everyone in the previous threads that questioned the story? Why mention it? You're asking for it all to start up again.

    And in those previous threads, it was those bemoaning what a disgrace said comments were that were being the most abusive. Double standards methinks.

  • riceNpea #17 2 years ago

    speak of the devil....

    i'm not surprised you feel that way coolbrittania seeing as your insensitive responses on the original story's comments page gathered a grand total of 126 'negs'.

  • bad09 #18 2 years ago

    Now now chaps, save it for "my console is bigger than yours". This is not the type of story to bicker in the comments so shut it.

  • coolbritannia #19 2 years ago

    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_sickness
    ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_si...[/link]

    Mourning sickness is a collective emotional condition of "recreational grieving" by individuals at the death of murder victims or celebrities.[1] Such celebrity deaths may be linked to hyper-attentive, intrusive and voyeuristic media coverage, which has been dubbed grief porn.[2]

    Media "grief porn"

    Grief porn is a pejorative, neologistic expression usually used to describe the behavior of the news media in the wake of a tragedy...Commentators like Charlie Brooker have noted that the distinction can be blurred by the 24-hour news cycle and its need to produce news stories.
    Robert Yates, assistant editor for The Observer, described some media coverage of deaths as producing "Gratification derived from a tenuous connection to the misfortunes of others; the gratuitous indulgence of tangential association with tragedy; getting off on really bad news".

    Tenuous connection, there you have it. Sicko's.

  • riceNpea #20 2 years ago

    fair enough bad09. mustn't stoop to his level.

    i bit. my apologies.


    EDIT: and then he goes and posts that garbage with a link from Wiki! what a complete tool!

    God he really winds me up. why does he have such a terrible attitude?
    Edited by riceNpea at 15/09/10 @ 20:29

  • darkmorgado #21 2 years ago

    Some of us doubt his "hero" status not because they thought Brian was a wanker, just didn't think the scenario very likely.

    I'm filing you under "things your mother should have swallowed"

  • Lexmeister #22 2 years ago

    @darkmorgado:

    No need to get personal, man.

    Wasn't trying to reignite anything.

    My personal opinion, if you are interested, is that his wife has every right to believe whatever she wants about him.

    She was there, none of us were.


  • darkmorgado #23 2 years ago

    Whatever way you look at it, the fact remains that 3 people are dead because of a stupid junkie, leaving a pregnant wife in hospital without the man she loved. God knows what she is going through and she has my utmost respect for maintaining her dignity and civility in a situation which would cripple me if I was in the same position. Anyone in that position deserves our sympathy and respect. Anyone who thinks otherwise... well, I hope to God they don't find themselves in a similar situation.

  • Lexmeister #24 2 years ago

    @darkmorgado:

    Agree with you on all counts.

  • Lexmeister #25 2 years ago

    @darkmorgado

    'cept about my mother :')

  • darkmorgado #26 2 years ago

    @Lexmeister

    Ok, cool. Sorry if I caused offense; I've been through stuff in the last month that I thought would drive me mad. When this all broke it really put things in perspective and I realised how lucky I actually was and that things could be a hell of a lot worse. Combine that with some of the utterly disgusting comments that have been made about this story so far, I guess I just overreacted a bit.

  • Lexmeister #27 2 years ago


    @darkmorgado

    No worries, dude.

  • darkmorgado #28 2 years ago

    Guys, this ain't the time or place to start arguments.

    I agree, hence why I resolved it as soon as I could.