A few days ago, Zoe Quinn accused Night in the Woods developer Alec Holowka of abusing her. Shortly thereafter, the Night in the Woods team cut ties with Holowka, and announced that the game he was working on with them had been canceled. Now we have learned that Holowka has passed away, as announced by his sister Eileen Holowka on Twitter.
According to Eileen, Alec passed away earlier this morning. Details of his death are unknown, but it's suggested by Eileen's statement that Alec committed suicide. "We tried our best to support Alec, but in the end he felt he had lost too much," she said on Twitter. In the wake of Quinn's abuse allegations, Alec was receiving support from his family and Manitoba crisis services.
Quinn's accusations against Alec detailed a period of about a month where he allegedly kept her from leaving his apartment, as well as emotionally and mentally abused her. After Quinn was finally able to leave Alec's apartment and return home, she ended their relationship. Quinn said that this resulted in Alec getting her blacklisted from important industry events while she was trying to start her gaming industry career.
Eileen does not deny Quinn's allegations and says in her post that she believes abuse survivors. She adds that Alec himself was the victim of abuse, and he also struggled with personality and mood disorders. "I will not pretend that he was not also responsible for causing harm, but deep down he was a person who wanted only to offer people care and kindness."
Eileen described how Alec was taking steps to better himself over the last few years. According to Eileen, Alec had been going to therapy and taking medication. "Alec became a new person," she said, describing her brother as "calm and happy, positive and loving." Eileen said that Alec was working toward making a better life for himself before the Quinn's allegations were made posted publicly on Twitter.
At the time of this writing, there has been no official statement on Holowka's death by the Night in the Woods team or Zoe Quinn.