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Al Lowe and Josh Mandel Quit Replay Games 16 Dec, 2013 / 4 comments

Leisure Suit Larry creator Al Lowe and co-writer Josh Mandel have left Replay Games due to the abusive and destructive behavior of Replay founder and CEO Paul Trowe.

As you know, last year he sabotaged fellow Kickstarter campaigns with false press releases and hurtful and deceitful comments (both under his own name and possibly under an assumed name).

Unfortunately, that behavior hasn't stopped, as he posted some hurtful words and unfounded claims at the SpaceVenture Kickstarter page in October. That behavior caused several Replay volunteers to criticize Paul's behavior publicly, leading Paul to fire them and ban them from the Replay forums. Worse, he insulted and publicly outed one volunteer as a transsexual woman (her name has been omitted from the twitter post to save her from any more emotional duress).

Additionally, Kotaku has posted an article that details Paul Trowe's arrest in October 2012 for showing a sex video to an underage teenage girl.

Al Lowe has stated that his leaving the company had to do with these and other reasons. Replay Games still owns the rights to make Leisure Suit Larry games for now, but if they do decide to make more, it will be without Al Lowe or Josh Mandel.

We at Mojo wish Al and Josh (as well as the Replay volunteers and employees who were affected by this) the best of luck in the future.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

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4 Comments

  • Avatar
    vintagegames on 18 Dec, 2013, 12:10…
    Apart from the tragedy for people directly concerned (incl. employees), this seems like the worst case for us. Now the Larry license *is* with a current company (great, I thought) - and Al Lowe will probably never ever will work with them again (and I would presume that the experience generally might put him off to the topic of any new Larry game).

    Does anyone remember how exactly Replay Games got involved (I only got to know them right at the beginning of the the kickstarter campaign).
  • Avatar
    Kolzig on 17 Dec, 2013, 08:49…
    Al said already in Twitter I believe that he had a two year contract with Replay and was there until the end of that and left immediately then when it was over.

    What a weird mess of a man that Trowe is.
  • Avatar
    Shmargin on 16 Dec, 2013, 19:36…
    Yeah I remember reading about all that drama. Surprised they didn't quit sooner. Good for them, I'm sure in the world of kick starter campaigns they shouldn't have too much trouble releasing awesomeness on their own or with a company not run by an insane pedophile.
  • Avatar
    spadge on 16 Dec, 2013, 18:33…
    Shucks! I hope Al and Josh find a way to make new games and I wish them all the best. As for Replay Games... I hope the people working there find a new boss or something, cause Paul Trowe sounds like one crazy cookie.

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