The lead developer for Microsoft’s Kinect and Hololens, Alex Kipman, resigns from Microsoft after allegations of misconduct against female employees. This announcement came after the initial report from Insider, where the allegations were first made public.
Alex Kipman is no stranger to the video game community, as the lead developer and co-creator of Xbox Kinect and Hololense, despite the technology never catching on. Despite his contributions to Microsoft, his alleged conduct has made the workspace for Microsoft’s female workers less than ideal. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, this hasn’t been an isolated incident for Kipman. According to Insider, Kipman’s allegations were compiled from a long list of over 25 current and former employees of Microsoft.
In a report by Kotaku, Kipman was said to have fostered a difficult environment for the people working alongside him. The alleged harassment had gotten to the point that managers had to reportedly warn female employees not to be alone with the man. As pointed out by Kotaku, Kipman’s behavior was previously reported in a Insider report about a group of corporate leaders who contributed to a toxic culture of harassment and abuse within Microsoft dubbed as “Golden Boys”.
Following the release of the allegations Scott Gurthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and AI group in Microsoft, announced Kipman’s resignation through email. However, despite his resignation, Kipman plans to continue with Microsoft to help his teams with the two-month transition process and “…ensuring success before pursuing what is next for him”.
These allegations come in the wake of similar misconduct allegations within Microsoft’s recently acquired Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has not acknowledged Kipman’s misconduct allegations, with the emails detailing his departure not even mentioning the allegations he was accused of, simply saying that the developer will be leaving to “pursue other interests” after assisting with that two-month transitional period.