Chris Avellone exonerated – accusers fully retract accusations of sexual assault

We extensively covered veteran game developer and writer Chris Avellone and the sexual assault allegations lobbied at him – and his libel lawsuit to clear his name. Now, we’ve learned his accusers have retracted their accusations and Avellone has been fully exonerated.

At that time, Avellone denied the allegations and took both women to court over their statements. The accusers, Karissa Barrows and Kelly Rae Bristol, have now completely retracted their claims and Avellone will be awarded a seven-figure sum in damages to his name.

“Mr. Avellone never sexually abused either of us,” Barrows and Bristol said in a joint statement. “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.”

They added, “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.”

Avellone also commented on the matter, noting “Ms. Barrows has requested to retract her comments to the media about me.”

“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,” Avellone said.

He added, “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.”

Due to the allegations made by both accusers Avellone was effectively fired from working on Dying Light 2, and has since had his reputation tarnished by mainstream games media.

Avellone has a career spanning multiple decades in the games industry and has generally been considered a household name when it comes to RPGs, especially CRPGs.

It wasn’t until the “MeToo” movement that these allegations were lobbied at him – it’ll be interesting if the folks who never gave him a chance to defend himself will apologize over the new developments.