Night in the Woods developer Infinite Fall has formally “cut ties” with composer and designer Alec Holowka following allegations of sexual assault by game developer Zoe Quinn.
In a series of startling tweets, Quinn accuses Holowka of false imprisonment and sexual abuse in Winnipeg, Canada. “I was scared to leave. I was scared to tell anyone. He’d act normal when other people were around and lay into me a soon as we were alone,” Quinn said.
“Hey. So we were all unaware of the events described last night. It might take a day or so for a more complete response [because] some things need to be worked out, but steps are being taken,” tweeted Night In The Woods developer Scott Benson shortly after Quinn made their statement.
The following day, Infinite Fall commented formally on the situation.
“This week, allegations of past abuse have come to light regarding Alec Holowka, who was coder, composer, and co-designer on Night In The Woods,” said a statement on the official Night In The Woods Twitter account. “We take such allegations seriously as a team. As a result and after some agonizing consideration, we are cutting ties with Alec.”
The studio also pledged to go further, confirming it will cancel a current project – presumably one with Holowka attached to it – and has scrapped plans to run a Limited Run physical release of Night in the Woods. As the iOS port that’s currently in development is being managed by an external agency, that will proceed as planned.
The revelation – which itself was inspired by a similar report of alleged abuse against The Elder Scrolls composer Jeremy Soule – has since kicked off a number of further troubling allegations of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse about other prominent games developers, including Luc Shelton and Alexis Kennedy. An anonymous Twitter account that was originally signal boosting these stories earlier this week, @AbuseIndustry, has since been deleted.
