Ari Gibson

Ari Nicholas Gibson (born 14 May 1983) is an Australian artist, animator, and video game designer. He is the co-founder and co-director of the indie game development studio Team Cherry, which developed the highly successful and acclaimed titles Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025).

Before entering the video game industry full-time, Gibson worked in animation at The People's Republic of Animation from 2005 to 2010, contributing to a variety of projects such as short films and video game cinematics, most notably co-directing the award-winning short film The Cat Piano (2009). From 2010 to 2014, he co-ran the independent animation studio Mechanical Apple with Jason Pamment. Gibson co-founded Team Cherry alongside William Pellen in 2014.

Early life and education Ari Nicholas Gibson was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 14 May 1983.

Gibson did not have a video game console for "a long time" as a child, which he recalls made them more enticing to him. His first console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, was made "doubly exciting" due this. Similarly to William Pellen, Gibson often drew video game levels in his free time at a young age. Also in 2006, he worked on the first two episodes of Dust Echoes—an educational twelve-part animation series published by ABC News Australia —"Whirlpool" and "Mermaid Story". It was the first time Gibson worked with Jason Pamment, whom he went to university with. His next project was I was a Teenage Butterfly (2007), a short comedy animation. He was a co-director alongside White, and the animation won a Nickelodeon Australia "short animation competition". Gibson continued as a co-director alongside White with The Cat Piano (2009), a short film narrated by Nick Cave. It received many awards, and was shortlisted for an Oscar. The PRA had also done work in the field of video games, specifically assisting in their cinematic cutscenes. With the PRA, Gibson worked on games such as Megamind: Mega Team Unite (2010); his first credited commercial work on video games.

20102014: Mechanical Apple and music videos

In 2010, after leaving the PRA, Gibson began working independently, forming the animation studio Mechanical Apple with Pamment. Their first production was a music video for The Audreys' 2010 album Sometimes the Starss title track. They began working on it when a friend of The Audreys contacted Gibson and Pamment, who was impressed with The Cat Piano, and released it in early 2011 after around 3 and a half months of development.

Near the end of the music video's production, they were contacted by Australian singer-songwriter Gotye—best known for "Somebody That I Used to Know" (2011)— about the opportunity to make a music video for an "upbeat song". They turned down the offer due to the song's theming not "fitting their style", but they felt that a later song by him, "Bronte", from Making Mirrors, did fit, leading them to develop and release a music video animation for it in late 2011. The animation was lauded by ScreenAnarchy, who said it "can only skyrocket Gibson into the stratosphere and cement him as one of the premier indie animators". In 2014, they released Motorbike; it was featured on the official YouTube channel owned by Disney as a "favorite". It was the studio's final released animation. Throughout its activity, Mechanical Apple also did other commercial work, producing animation content for video games, advertisements, and television. In a 2018 interview after the release of Hollow Knight, Gibson described the studio as having been "quite successful", and stated that it helped fund his pivot to game development in 2014.

2013present: Team Cherry and game design

In 2013, Gibson, reconnecting with his longtime friend William Pellen, who at the time was making small platformers as a hobby, suggested that they enter the 27th Ludum Dare. Its theme was 10 seconds, leading them to develop Hungry Knight under the team name "Team Cherry". It was badly received by the public. Later in 2013, they released the small game Tomb Cat. In 2014, a game jam with the theme of "Beneath the Surface" began, with Gibson and Pellen planning to use some ideas from Hungry Knight, alongside new ones, for a game developed for the jam; they missed the deadline.

Despite this, they were invested in the idea, resulting in the development of a full game, Hollow Knight, starting. They legally founded Team Cherry that year, and started a Kickstarter project for Hollow Knight; it was a success. The game was released in February 2017 to critical acclaim. Gibson worked on the game's art, animation, and writing, while also co-directing its development.

Prior to the release of Hollow Knight, Gibson and Pellen began early work on a piece of downloadable content starring Hornet as the protagonist, which eventually evolved into a sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong. The game's development took over seven years, though Gibson described the process as enjoyable. Silksong released in September 2025, also to critical acclaim. Both titles' large success has given Gibson substantial wealth, with Hollow Knight having sold roughly 15 million copies by August 2025, and Silksong having sold over 7 million as of December 2025.

In a 2020 interview with Edge, Gibson confirmed that he and Pellen were in the very early stages of developing a non-Hollow Knight game, one then only existing through ideas shared in a Google Doc, which he described as being "expanded as each new idea comes in". In a 2025 Bloomberg interview, Gibson implied that his and Pellen's next game would not be a Hollow Knight one.

Philanthropy In 2021, Gibson co-founded The Trustee for Team Cherry Foundation alongside Pellen and Edward Bernard; they serve as directors, and the foundation consistently reports A$1,000,000 in "donations and bequests" annually, alongside occasionally investment revenue. The foundation is self-described as "providing funds to underprivileged and vulnerable South Australians through other charities".

Art style For his most notable work, Hollow Knight, Gibson scanned his hand-drawn art directly into the game's engine. This was done to "create vivid sense of place." Rock Paper Shotguns Philippa Warr called it "elegiac", noting the large amount of "bluey greys". Alana Hagues of Nintendo Life described Gibson's art in Silksong as being "a rainbow compared to the muted tones of [Hollow Knights] Hallownest", while also still being "sombre"; stating that it used a "beautiful colour palette".

Personal life

Gibson is married to Japanese animator Makoto Koji; they began their relationship in 2007. Koji also voices the Hollow Knight character Hornet, alongside other characters, and shares an office with Gibson and the rest of Team Cherry as of 2018. Gibson met Pellen through mutuals in the early 2000s.

Despite the immense financial success of Team Cherry's games, Gibson lives in a "very basic two-bedroom apartment", and spends most of his time at the Team Cherry office, finding working on games to be most enjoyable. In an August 2025 interview, he said that "sometimes I think, 'You know what would be better, is a one-bedroom apartment.' Because then there's even less to maintain." He also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a dramatic effect on him and his lifestyle.

Known Works