Last year Digital Homicide and co-owner James Romine decided to sue Jim Sterling, something that took its toll on the studio, and now Sterling has posted on his blog announcing that the case has been dismissed.
He starts the post by revealing the fact that the case has been "dismissed with prejudice following discussions between my lawyer Bradley Hartman and the plaintiff James Romine," before giving context on the lawsuit.
"In 2016, Romine sued yours truly - better (and preferably) known as Jim Sterling - for over $10million [USD], a sum that would rise to over $15million during the course of the year. The original charges were assault, libel, and slander. Romine alleged that my coverage of his game studio Digital Homicide inflicted not only severe emotional damage but irreparably harmed his company. Included in his complaint was an attempt to charge me for the time and money he'd spent learning just enough law to file the suit in the first place."
He then said that he was "obviously pleased with the result" and "for those curious about this resolution, I was not a direct part of the communication between Romine and my lawyer, but as I understand it, the agreement to drop the suit with prejudice was the result of Hartman's enviable reasoning ability. The plaintiff agreed to drop his case after my lawyer explained exactly what would happen if this went to court and how we would respond."
Sterling then went into detail about his thoughts on the lawsuit itself: "That it got as far as it did, went on for as long as it did, is atrocious - especially when this is a case that amounts to a game developer wanting to silence a game critic.I personally viewed, and still view, the lawsuit as an attempted attack on my freedom to do my legally protected job. I personally perceive it as an attack launched by a man who is unable to deal with criticism in a reasonable fashion and has sought to blame me, continuously, for his failures."
"Even Digital Homicide's removal from Steam following an attempt to sue 100 anonymous community members was falsely linked to me, Romine's final amendment adding claims of conspiracy between myself and Valve Corporation. Romine and his brother Robert have consistently laid the blame for their many failures at my feet, and at some point they are going to have to accept that if they'd stop continuing and escalating the animosity between themselves and the rest of the world, they'd stand a chance of improving themselves and their lot in life. A little reflection would do them both good, and I sincerely hope they emotionally steel themselves enough to partake of it one day."
"There is no conspiracy. There is no orchestrated terror campaign. There is simply what there has always been - one random critic in a sea of them having a stupid fight with a pair of brothers who don't make a lot of sense and whose claims have a strained relationship with reality. Many will have come here expecting humor or laughter, but I want to make it quite clear that I do not find this lawsuit funny in the slightest. Even getting the result I wanted is bittersweet, as it's the result to a situation that should never have occurred - a distasteful situation that fills me with surrogate embarrassment for the man who filed it. I find this lawsuit disgusting. It was and it is and it shall forever be disgusting."
Sterling also thanked fans for their support through what had been an emotionally draining time.