Last week, gaming news and community website The Escapist published an exposè on Cloud Imperium Games, the game studio behind the $90 million crowdfunded space sim game Star Citizen. Drawing on anonymous sources claiming to have worked at Cloud Imperium, the article accused the studio of toxic work conditions, racism, ageism, and an inability to live up to the promises it has made for Star Citizen.

Cloud Imperium later fired back with a five-page rebuttal addressed to The Escapist Managing Editor John Keefer. In the letter, the developer accused the site of violating “the most basic rules and ethics in journalism in failing to properly vet your sources and providing the affected party with an opportunity to refute these ridiculous, highly slanderous, and easily disproven allegations.”

The letter continued, “We have indications that this was not a bona fide act of journalism protected by the rules applying to the free press, (however shoddily ‘researched’ and unprofessionally handled), but rather a conspiracy between the Author and third parties with the deliberate intention of inflicting emotional distress and financial harm on the individuals and entities concerned.”

The letter concluded with a list of demands that Cloud Imperium said could prevent litigation, including a personal apology to the parties named in the article, a public apology and retraction of the original article on The Escapist website, and an investigation into the article’s creation, including “any bias of your staff and their involvement with other interested parties and any conspiring arrangements between them.”

Despite the threat of legal action, The Escapist has not backed down from the statements in its article.

“The Escapist, notwithstanding Cloud Imperium Games’ notice and posting, stands by its coverage of Star Citizen and intends to continue to investigate the developing story,” Keefer said in an update to an article addressing concerns about the legitimacy of the original report. “Since publishing our original stories, we have been contacted by, and are currently interviewing, additional sources corroborating a variety of the reported allegations.”

He added, “Additionally, if Mr. Roberts’ offer for The Escapist to ‘meet the developers making the game and see how we’re building one of the most ambitious PC games first hand’ remains open, we take the opportunity to accept such invitation so as to hopefully provide the public with sufficient information and opportunity to vet such sources’ allegations and claims for themselves. We have also communicated the foregoing directly to Cloud Imperium Games.”

Photo by Mr. Roboto.