The well-known video game author Chris Avellonewho wrote some of the best screenplays in this area, was accused of sexual harassment and predatory conduct by two women but the charges are droppedAvellone was acquitted and also got public apology and a rich compensation by the accusers.
Shortly after completing work on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, in 2020, Chris Avellone had ended up in a network of accusations by mainly two acquaintances, who had described various harassment and predatory behavior which would have been held by the author against them in earlier periods.
The allegations had initially been limited to Twitter, but that was enough to start a quick domino effect that led to scorched earth around Avellone, which in a short time lost virtually all business contactsincluding the contract with Techland to write the story and quests for Dying Light 2, which was in full development at the time.
Shortly after the emergence of these allegations, Avellone said he wanted to file a lawsuit against the two accusers, claiming that he had collected a large amount of documents and materials to support his position. After about two years, the results of this defense by Avellone arrive, who in this way obtains a public and official apology from the two women and also a rich “seven-figure” compensationapparently.
“Mr Avellino never sexually abused of either of us,” Karissa Barrows and Kelly Rae Bristol, the two original accusers, said in a joint statement. “We have no information that he has ever sexually assaulted any other woman. We are not aware that Avellone ever squandered funds from the companies she worked for. It was not our intent to suggest what emerged on what we wrote or said previously about Mr. Avellone regarding these events”.
It is a complete denial of the allegations that had previously been reported by the two women, who had described various cases in which Avellone was shown to be a “sexual predator”. In the press release, the two explain that “we wanted to support women in this industry and, in doing so, the our words have been misinterpreted to suggest specific allegations of misconduct that never happened. We are passionate about ensuring the safety and defense of women, minorities and people from the LGBTQIA+ community”, the two further explain, adding that “We believe that Avellone also shares with us this desire to protect and make these communities stand out. We believe he deserves a full return to the industry and we support him in his efforts.”
For his part, Avellone wrote: “I appreciate the willingness of Ms Barrows and Bristol to work with us to highlight these issues within the gaming community and the their commitment is to be supported. There are still many big challenges to face but I’m sure we can do it together. In the spirit of achieving these goals, I would like to ask everyone to respect the privacy of Barrows and Bristol and use this opportunity to hear all voices so we can improve our culture and communities.”
At this point, once his situation has been clarified unequivocally, we hope that Avellone can soon be reintegrated into the gaming industry. Recall that he worked at Interplay, Obsidian and other companies as scripts and designers, among those responsible for masterpieces such as Planescape: Torment, Baldur’s Gate, Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Icewind Dale, Prey, Divinity: Original Sin 2 and many others.