A couple of years ago, Chris Avellone was accused of sexual abuse by Karissa Barrows and Kelly Bristol. In June 2020, Karissa Barrows wrote on Twitter, “I didn’t bother blowing this up until today due to work being insane all week, but I’ve got the time now. Chris Avellone is an abusive, abrasive, conniving sexual predator. People tried to get him help. He refused it and continued. Stop glorifying him.”
Chris Avellone denied all of these accusations, but many game companies ended their relationships with him including Techland and Paradox Interactive. He was blacklisted from the industry. Now, the accusations against Chris Avellone have all been dropped and a seven figure settlement has been awarded to him by the accusers. In a joint statement Karrisa Barrows and Kelly Bristol said, “Mr. Avellone never sexually abused either of us. We have no knowledge that he has ever sexually abused any women. We have no knowledge that Mr. Avellone has ever misused corporate funds. Anything we have previously said or written about Mr. Avellone to the contrary was not our intent. We wanted to support women in the industry. In so doing, our words have been misinterpreted to suggest specific allegations of misconduct that were neither expressed nor intended. We are passionate about the safety, security and agency of women, minorities, LGBTQIA+ persons, and every other community that has seen persecution in the video game industry. We believe Mr. Avellone shares a desire to protect and uplift those communities. We believe that he deserves a full return to the industry and support him in those endeavors.”
Chris Avellone also released a statement saying,“I appreciate the willingness of Ms. Barrows and Ms. Bristol to work with us in addressing issues within the game community, and their advocacy is to be commended and supported.There are still many very real challenges that we face but am confident we can face them together. In the spirit of these goals, I would ask everyone to respect the privacy of Ms. Barrows and Ms. Bristol and use this opportunity as a means to listen to all voices in improving our culture and our communities.”
How the wider industry will react to this news is yet unclear, and what the next steps for Chris Avellone are when it comes to working with different studios. Avellone is a prominent writer within the games industry, having started working in the games industry at Interplay and being a designer and writer on a string of acclaimed RPGs, including Fallout 2, Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment and many more. He co-founded Obsidian Entertainment working on Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, before departing in 2015 and working as a consultant and freelance writer.
