The high-profile case of alleged harassment by Chris Avellone is slowly coming to an end. The women who sued the famed game designer have dropped their charges.
Two women who accused Chris Avellone of sexual harassment in 2020 have changed their minds. As Forbes reports, the parties reached an agreement. As a result, the designer should be compensated in a seven-figure amount..
A big misunderstanding…
on his blog the developer released a statement from accusers Karissa Barrows and Kelly Rae Bristol, who admit that Avellone never attacked them and that it was all a huge misunderstanding.
“Mr. Avellone never sexually abused any of us. We don’t know that he sexually abused women. To our knowledge, Mr. Avellone has never abused company money. Everything we have said or written previously about Mr. Avellone was unintentional. We (…) believe he deserves a full return to the industry and we will support him in that effort,” the post read.
half victory
It should be noted that the statement does not yet mean that the whole case can be considered closed. There are still unresolved issues, such as alleged attempts to harass women through social media. Nonetheless, the above news is certainly a huge step towards clearing Avellone of the charges completely.
Briefly about the case
Recall that the case arose in June 2020, when the news broke in the media that the famous game designer, having participated in the work of titles such as Fallout 2 or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, to his credit, was accused by two women of sexual harassment. At industry events, he reportedly got his victims (regardless of age) drunk, then dragged them to a hotel room and intrusively courted them despite their objections. As a result, the game industry parted ways with Avellone, including the developer of Dying Light 2 and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, where the developer would be responsible for the story layer.
The creator spent the following months gathering evidence to prove his innocence. Avellone maintained that the reason for the accusations was that after a 12-month relationship, he split up with a friend of the accusers. Eventually, the developer sued them for defamation. A California court dismissed the lawsuit, but the creator filed another in 2022, this time in Illinois, where it was accepted.