My years-long experience of bullying and sabotage from Adam 'Pez' Perry

At present, there are a number of individuals and incidents coming to light within the Australian video game industry. I wish to say before I tell my story that I completely respect and feel for those who have come forward with their own stories in recent days, and that I have found strength and inspiration from those people and those who have urged me to share my story.



I first met Adam Perry through Jason Thomas, a new streamer who felt as though Adam and I would get along through a shared love of video games. Before I had even met him, Adam sent me a message on Facebook and told me that he would be purchasing over $330,000 worth of retro games as he had won the lottery - the first of many lies.



Adam joined me for a few media events, as I was unemployed and suffering from severe agoraphobia, having someone simply attend events with me gave me the strength to leave the house without being violently ill, having a panic attack or worse. He told people he was working with my website Sticky Trigger, though he was never in fact a writer or content creator for the site.



Adam created a streaming group named The Raw Toast. The Raw Toast attended PAX one year, and while off on his own, Adam told people that I had been spreading rumours and saying disrespectful things behind their backs. One member of The Raw Toast walked in on a conversation between Adam and Mathew Waterworth, where Mathew was saying "well if Nick is like that, I wouldn't worry about it. This is a small industry and we look out for each other" I was then confronted by other Toast members (one being my own brother) about how I told people not to work with them.



After we mended that, we had the idea to do a 72-hour charity stream for Camp Quality. We all agreed it was a charity close to our hearts and I began handling the public relations, securing games and peripherals to use as giveaways, designing media such as posters and trailers. We used my studio lighting, green screen equipment from home, and drummed up hype from friends of mine in the media and PR industry. When I was interviewed by the media, I thanked the Raw Toast and my friends in PR for their support. Adam simply took credit for everything, with the details changing in every subsequent interview.



After the marathon, I expressed to Adam I wasn't too sure what the next step for Sticky Trigger was as I was unemployed and what little money I had went into the website. He told me that he still had lottery money, and that he would invest in Sticky Trigger. He wouldn't even pursue buying a share of it, he simply wanted to help out. The money never came.



Another time I expressed that I felt as though I was a burden due to my physical and mental health issues. Adam insisted that he booked my partner at the time and I a weekend stay at a hotel. He didn't.



On the subject of mental health issues, when Pez heard of mine, he told me that he once tried to commit suicide and that a shared acquaintance knew. It was a lie. He also told me he has never understood anxiety, but told guests otherwise on You Game Bro.



I referred my brother and Adam Perry to Patch Kolan of Reboot PR. Reboot were looking to start an online community for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and has asked me if I wanted to be a community manager. While I have experience in running communities, I didn't have the time to play an MMO on top of my journalism as well, so I recommended Ben and Pez. My brother worked incredibly hard for that group. I was a member of it. Ben played with people, organsied meet ups. Effectively, my brother did 90-95% of the work. Adam didn't even know the basic lore of the game.



During his time as FFXIV community manager, Adam joined a Discord chat with JackHuddo, while JackHuddo was playing Battlefield 4. Pez immediately began to mock and belittle Jason Thomas, as well as complain about Asian members of the FFXIV community. JackHuddo informed Pez that he was on stream and the Discord was canned. A recording was sent to Reboot PR - nothing eventuated.



Adam expressed that he felt he did the majority of the work in The Raw Toast, and that he was sick of it. I told him that I had pushed my own website more than myself as a content creator, and that I handled the majority of the work for my site, but people didn't know who I was as a creator. I told Adam that I wanted to start a podcast where I interviewed other people from the games industry. Streamers, PR people, developers, YouTubers - anyone in the industry, despite their following. I just wanted to share the love of gaming with people. Shortly after, Pez started 'You Game Bro?'. I called him on the phone, furious, asking why he took my idea. He told me he thought it had come to him as he mowed the lawn. He apologised profusely but told me that he already started it, so he was going to keep doing the podcast.



I began streaming on Twitch, and during my early streams, became regularly hosted by Spawn Point Bar in Sydney, a gaming bar that a lot of streamers frequented. By this point Adam was attending regular Twitch Sydney meet ups and as soon as he found out I was being hosted, told Nathan, the manager, that he had to stop hosting me as I had been "talking shit" about him. Without even coming to me, Nathan pulled my streams from their hosts. I was also informed by other streamers “You don't seem so bad, I can't believe I was told not to associate with you” It has since been confirmed to me that Pez told people I was not someone to associate with.



So petty was Adam, that when I attended a Newcastle WWE NXT show and he was there in the same seats, that he avoided mentioning me on his podcast the following episode, referring to me as "a mate" and "someone". He did however, joke with Mathew Waterworth about how "gay" and "homo-erotic" wrestling is. He slapped a press invite to an event in the PR company's face, and now he works for them.



During some of my streams, I had seemingly random, only JUST created profiles in my chat. It seemed awfully weird that immediately after I started streaming, I was getting attention from people. One person told me that Jason Thomas was telling people he worked for Sticky Trigger. The second I started referring to them as Pez they would leave the chat.



This whole time, I never retaliated to Adam. I simply turned the other cheek and hoped that he would simply stop one day. I had gone from confused and irritated, to devastated and anguished. My experience with Pez caused me to stop writing and reviewing games, to resume counselling, and to stop streaming. It affected my mental health and my relationship with my former partner. I was getting trolled every night I streamed, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I never wanted to stoop to his level, and I just wanted it to stop.



Now more than ever, we need a games industry with good people working in it. People who love video games, creativity and passion. Pez is dangerous, predatory and power hungry, and it is NOT a good thing that he works with a company as reputable as 2K Games. I know there are other people who have been bullied by him, sexually harrassed by him, and had their careers and personal relationships affected by him. Pez has coerced people into compromising their morals and then threatened to expose them if they rat on him. I have let him affect my life for far too long. I have wanted to work in the Australian video games industry since I picked up the first issue of Hyper Magazine in 1993, and I let one person change all that.



I don't know what will happen now. The stories I shared are only the ones I can confirm. I won't share these people's names or stories without their consent, I only ask that you come forward with them if you feel you can.

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