After a judge ordered a sexual harassment lawsuit to proceed against the owner of a local PC gaming studio, the head of Stardock Software is now suing the former employee who filed the complaint for causing the release of a faulty game.
Federal court records show Stardock sued former marketing manager Alexandra Miseta this summer for $1 million, claiming deleted vital materials from her computer before quitting her job in 2010.
The Plymouth-based company claims the loss of marketing resources caused a scramble ahead of the release of the game "Elemental: War of Magic," distracting employees from last-minute debugging tasks and leading to the release of an unsuccessful game.
The suit was filed shortly after a judged refused to dismiss a sexual harassment complaint filed by Miseta in 2010 against Stardock CEO Brad Wardell.
Miseta's attorney told Kotaku.com, a Gawker Media-owned gaming website, that she denies the allegations and believes the complaint was filed in retaliation for the harassment lawsuit.
Kotaku.com called Elemental: War of Magic a "buggy, muddled mess" of a game.
Wardell denied the harassment allegations and blamed Miseta for causing the game to be "a total disaster," according to the report.
An email message presented in court records gives a glimpse of the interaction between Wardell and Miseta before she quit.
In response to a request from Miseta for a stop to insensitive comments in the workplace, Wardell wrote, in part:
"I am an inappropriate, sexist, vulgar, and embarrassing person and I'm not inclined to change my behavior. If this is a problem, you will need to find another job."
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