Initially without reaction on social networks, Chris Avellone had officially published a denial of these allegations on Medium in June 2021 while filing a complaint for defamation against his accusers in a Californian court. As Chris Avellone has just announced in a press release, the case has just been concluded with the retraction of his two accusers, who now explain that their remarks from 2020 were misinterpreted. Due to the damage suffered, Chris Avellone will nevertheless be compensated with a seven-figure payment including the restitution of his attorney’s fees.
It must be said that the author, formerly solicited from right to left for various works related to writing, had quickly been abandoned by most of his commercial partners, including Techland (Dying Light 2: Stay Human), Paradox Interactive ( Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2) and Gato Salvaje (The Waylanders). Today, his accusers say they finally have nothing to reproach Chris Avellone and withdraw all the charges that have been brought against him. Note that a copy of the press release published by Chris Avellone was also sent to Forbes by the author’s lawyers.
In this same press release, Chris Avellone plays appeasement and even explains that he wants to support the fight of Ms. Barrows and Ms. Bristol to tackle recurring behavioral problems in the video game industry. ” In the spirit of these goals, I ask everyone to respect the privacy of Ms. Barrows and Ms. Bristol and to use this opportunity as a way to listen to all voices to improve our culture and our communities. “Adds the 51-year-old author. Note that in June 2021, Chris Avellone revealed his version of the facts as to the nature of the attacks against him. ” The motivation for these attacks seemed simple: Karissa and Kelly were angry because of a bad breakup I had with their friend Jackie almost 7 years ago. »
But Chris Avellone also spoke on Twitter to confide in a more intimate way, pointing to the lack of benefit of the doubt and the haste with which many of his colleagues and friends distanced themselves as soon as the accusations surfaced on Twitter in 2020.
” I wanted to thank everyone on both sides who chose not to rush to judgement, but rather to listen and let the legal process take its course, let the facts come out on both sides, until we reached A resolution. I think one of the worst parts of this case is that at some point I realized that I was going to have to prove that I was an outcast in the video game industry and that the allegations had “really “caused damage. To do this, I had to compile a list of all the colleagues and friends who had cut me off and/or sentenced me without even asking my side of the story. While making this list was pretty awful, even heartbreaking at times, the only thing I gained in the end was realizing that I hadn’t lost any true friends. »
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