A Pattern Of Conduct
It has been awhile since my last blog post which was able the David Allen fiasco. Mostly I’ve been busy running two companies and three projects.
Meanwhile, my ol’ buddy (!) Dave Allen who sued everyone associated with his being kicked out of his latest company, continues to surprise everyone associated with this farce.
Going by the people (ex-contractors, associates etc) who have contacted us – one (Dan Nissenbaum) who is actually now threatening to sue Quest Online for actions that took place while Allen was head of the company – it is highly surprising that David actually lasted this long at the company. Not to mention that he had known about this guy’s complaint all along and never even bothered to inform the investors who actually own and fund the company. The first I heard about it was when Dan’s attorney contacted us directly and informed us that they had in fact notified Allen several months back.
That’s the thing about lawsuits, you just never know who or what is going to crawl out of the woodwork and ready to do depositions. So much for a defamation suit.
When you are the top of the corporate food chain and there is nobody to vet your actions, keep you in check etc you can pretty much do anything you want. Including flat out lying to investors while running a company and a $4M (of which he never invested a single penny into the company) investment directly into the ground.
What is seemingly funny to me is that, apart from the fact that he actually asked – no begged – me to come in and help him with the company, he sued me too! Meanwhile, I’ve done everything that the investors and owners of the company asked me to do – specifically in terms of stabilizing the company, obtaining funding, cutting costs, handling project management for and successfully leading the team to the completion and official release of the Alganon game etc. ALL the things that he failed to do and which in the end cost him not only his job but also left him open to several lawsuits which I expect will be forthcoming from each of the investors who felt duped and Madoff’ed by him.
The good thing about all this is that had he not sued, we would never have been in the position to really probe into really just how much damage had been done.
My guess is that he bet on the investors and everyone he sued to just settle and pay him what he was asking (for his remaining equity in the company) in order to go away. He bet wrong and my opinion is that his attorney has a damn fool for a client.
Now that myself and the investors have not only answered his lawsuit (which we all believe to be frivolous and without merit), the first of many counter-suits (scroll to p31 where the fun starts) has also now been filed against him.
I don’t know about you, but if I had two companies and no less than fifteen people (investors, partners etc) looking to sue me individually for things that range from embezzlement to conversion and everything in between, I’d be very concerned. Especially when you consider that the claims are not only crystal clear but also demonstrate a pattern of conduct. Just losing a single one of those claims has far reaching consequences that I don’t even think he can fully imagine.
In a laugh out loud Eulogy which he wrote back in 2004 after going through yet another of his failures, he said goodbye to the industry. You will have to highlight the text on the web archive page in order to read it, but in case you have trouble reading it, here is the full text.
Farewell to the Industry – April 25th, 2004
After a decade of involvement with the gaming industry, I’ve decided that it’s time to move on to something else and shut Pharaoh down. Note that DEMISE will continue to be sold, supported, and patched, and the forums will not be going anywhere!
This personal decision was made due to a multitude of reasons. Some of which are related to events that have taken place in the past that the public is very aware of, as well as events that the public is not aware of.
I thoroughly enjoyed creating MORDOR, DEMISE, the original HORIZONS, and the DOMINION/UNIVERSE design and prototypes.
Unfortunately, I have not enjoyed the direction that the industry has taken. My passion is gone; and it has been for quite some time. As I witness the recent games that have come out, and are currently being released, it has quickly become apparent to me that the industry has lost its way; gone is innovation and vision – and to make matters worse, I do not see resolution to the current problems anytime soon. I’ve been a gamer all of my life, and the amount of copycat boring products that are being released seems to compound every year.
This is not what the gaming industry is about. It was founded on the basis of creativity and innovation paired with technical expertise and problem solving; always pushing the envelope with every new product. That was the industry I fell in love with and dedicated a portion of my life to. And now, that industry no longer exists.
I have chosen to take an opportunity to work with some great people in a completely unrelated industry. This has generated a massive sense of relief; a sure sign that my decision is the right one.
Perhaps in the future when I gain financial independence I will reconsider creating a company to ‘do things right’, but that won’t be for a number of years at least.
The Pharaoh Email accounts will still be active, so if you need to get a hold of me for any reason, don’t hesitate to use davida@pharaoh-productions.com.
To all of you who have supported me, my products, and my companies, I extend sincere thanks and wish you the best.
– David Allen
This coming from a guy who had never – ever – shipped a decent game, let alone a successful one.
But no less than two years later – after being involved with no less than two bombed companies and games – he somehow got a bunch of people to, once again, give him money so that he could go back out and fail all over again. Only this time he has decided to take insanity to a whole new level by suing the same people who gave him a rather generous paycheck for almost four years and right up to his termination. The same people who – as of this writing – have no idea what happened to the $4M they gave him and for which they currently have no accounting for whatsoever.
Given how much the game industry has changed and what is sure to be revealed as this lawsuit and the individual investigations progress, my guess is that he really is gone for good this time. And no, he did NOT build ANY of those systems he conveniently attributed to himself in that bio on the new venture he has started peddling. The people who did ALL that work are still at QOL toiling away on a game they worked hard on for more than four years and which, until I showed up, had no end in sight and certainly no direction. Jason Blood was the other member of his original “dream team of three” that was fired. He was the one responsible for giving Allen access to company sub-systems and allowed him to wreak havoc with access credentials (as mentioned in our lawsuit). Thats why he was fired. The third person, Hue Henry, quit – to pursue other interests – after Allen was fired.
It has been my opinion all along that David was up to no good. And when actions were taken to solve the problems at the company, he filed what we believe and intend to prove to be a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to not only strong-arm investors but also to conceal the full extent of his actions and activities. Not to mention the fact that he has been down this road before after being terminated in a similar fashion from Artifact Entertainment a few years back. This in my opinion all amounts to a pattern of conduct that includes incompetence, mismanagement and everything in between. What we have here is history repeating itself .
Simply amazing.