RPG General News - Chris Avellone’s Accusers Retract Allegations

[Silver]

Forbes has reported that Chris Avellone's accusers have issued a public statement retracting allegations of misconduct. Hopefully with all this cleared up he will be free to work in the industry again.

Back in June of 2021 I reported on video game writer Chris Avellone's libel lawsuit against two women who had accused Avellone of sexual assault on Twitter. Avellone publicly denied the accusations and announced he was taking both women to court over their statements.

Now, nearly two years later, the case has been settled. Avellone's accusers, Karissa Barrows and Kelly Bristol, have signed a joint statement retracting their previous claims on social media and clearing Avellone of any wrongdoing. A seven-figure payment to Avellone is part of a confidential settlement between the parties according to Avellone's lawyers.

"The parties resolved the matter and claims were dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a confidential settlement that provides for a seven-figure payment that includes the return of the attorney fee award entered against Mr. Avellone in California.

"I understand that Ms. Barrows has requested to retract her comments to the media about me."

I have received a copy of the below statement from Mr. Avellone's lawyers.

[...]

More information.

 

[Arkadia7]

I remember seeing and reading news about these allegations at the time, and how they were fishy and sounded like a scam or extortion attempt. Glad Chris Avellone cleared his name and can now move on and maybe help make some good crpgs again.

 

[Couchpotato]

Good for him but his career is already finished. He might be able to find some work but to most larger studio's, they might not want the negative press even with the legal win.

 

[jpnole]

Looks like those two ladies failed on their saving throw

 

[bjon045]

I think there will be plenty of work for him in the smaller studios in Eastern Europe etc. That won't be too much different that his post Obsidian career anyway.

I also seem to recall several posters on here throwing Chris under the bus when the accusations first came out. Time to do some google fu!

 

[Stingray]

I also seem to recall several posters on here throwing Chris under the bus when the accusations first came out. Time to do some google fu!

I went through the two big threads on the topic and the only person here who really threw him under the bus was Myrthos:

https://rpgwatch.com/forum/threads/non-rpg-general-news-chris-avellone-responds-to-accusations-in-2020.47947/#post-1061646394

https://rpgwatch.com/forum/threads/non-rpg-general-news-chris-avellone-responds-to-accusations-in-2020.47947/page-2#post-1061646424

Everyone else was either on Avellone's side, or withheld judgement.

I think there will be plenty of work for him in the smaller studios in Eastern Europe etc. That won't be too much different that his post Obsidian career anyway.

For sure, now that he's officially "cleared" on the matter, he'll find some people somewhere who want him. But probably not as high profile as the work he used to get.

 

[bjon045]

I went through the two big threads on the topic

Yeah. I looked as well and I think I might have been reading twitter around the same time and got mixed up. Even now there are people posting that it sounds like he used $ to silence the victims...man the internet is a cesspool.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I just wonder why they did it in the first place ... What were their thoughts ?

 

[Hastar]

I just wonder why they did it in the first place ... What were their thoughts ?

The answer is always money.

 

[bjon045]

The answer is always money.

I dunno. They might have been salty that he dumped one of them. They might of wanted to be part of the "movement". They might have wanted some fame. There could be many many reasons but they had a opportunity (a few txt messages) so I guess they took it whatever the reason.

A senior narrative designer like Chris would make anywhere from 100k-200k. He may have made more when he held a senior position at Obsidian but still I think if it was just money they could of picked a juicier target!

 

[Farflame]

They might have been salty that he dumped one of them. They might of wanted to be part of the "movement". They might have wanted some fame.
He may have made more when he held a senior position at Obsidian but still I think if it was just money they could of picked a juicier target!

It was probably more reasons together including money. Regarding the last argument - you cant really claim some personal stuff about a person you never met. If you are not completely stupid. So it was about opportunity too. Opportunity + hate + money + maybe some fame.

I recall there was more publicly known devs that were accused of similar things within a year and a half or two years. And later there was none. I wonder how many of these cases were lies and scams too.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well not to get to political but all it takes is allegations from anyone nowadays and your career is toast. Most management and board directors don't care if your innocent.

All they care about is bad PR and very loud social media users. As for his accusers they got off easy as their not going to get any jail time for lying, and probably can't afford to pay.

 

[Qayto]

Am I right in thinking that he was sacked before any investigation took place? Would the damages figure include compensation for unfair dismissal and loss of earnings?

 

[Couchpotato]

Am I right in thinking that he was sacked before any investigation took place? Would the damages figure include compensation for unfair dismissal and loss of earnings?

Hmm.. based on US law yes he can sue most businesses that fired, or removed his work based on now known false allegations. I'm sure the businesses think otherwise.

Problem is does he have the money, the patience, and the will to do so?

Look at Johnny Depp for an example of what can happen.

 

[Mordegar]

His work for Techland on Dying Light 2 got canceled once the claims did hit the internet without any further investigation by Techland.

 

[Couchpotato]

Yep multiple game companies disowned him and his work. Including Techland's Dying Light 2, The Waylanders, and Hardsuit's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.

Once allegations came to light, these studios decided to cut ties with Chris Avellone. Resulting in him being expunged from the gaming industry. Basically he was cancelled.

Now it's known the allegations were false and they fired him for nothing.

 

[notdart]

Am I right in thinking that he was sacked before any investigation took place? Would the damages figure include compensation for unfair dismissal and loss of earnings?

Well he did win 7 figure compensation from the ladies; isn't that at least 1 million?

 

[Stingray]

Am I right in thinking that he was sacked before any investigation took place? Would the damages figure include compensation for unfair dismissal and loss of earnings?

In the US, that depends on the state. In my state (TX), you can fire an employee for any reason at any time as long as it doesn't violate discrimination laws (race, gender, religion, etc). Firing someone for unproven allegations that turn out to be false would be perfectly fine. However, I don't think that would matter anyway, since I don't believe Chris Avellone was an employee of any US company at the time this stuff came out. Whoever he was working for, he was almost certainly on contract with, not employed by. So then, what would matter is the terms of the contract.

 

[Mordegar]

It's kinda terrifying how easy it is to destroy someones career with a couple of wrong accusations and maybe 2-3 buddys to back them up. Even if you loose a late trial, the other guys career will still be in ruins. It's like the modern societies version of a social murder attempt.

 

[Couchpotato]

In the US, that depends on the state. In my state (TX), you can fire an employee for any reason at any time as long as it doesn't violate discrimination laws (race, gender, religion, etc). Firing someone for unproven allegations that turn out to be false would be perfectly fine. However, I don't think that would matter anyway, since I don't believe Chris Avellone was an employee of any US company at the time this stuff came out. Whoever he was working for, he was almost certainly on contract with, not employed by.

It's called at-will employment and is an employer's ability to dismiss an employee for any reason (that is, without having to establish "just cause" for termination), and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal. Luckily only ten sates use this absurd law.

He could still claim sexual discrimination as that would be a loophole.

Once again though none of the business are in the US though.