Battletech developer resigns following multiple accusations of sexual harassment

Tyler Carpenter, a designer at Harebrained Schemes whose credits include Shadowrun: Hong Kong and Battletech, has resigned from the studio following multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Speaking to Waypoint, Carpenter admitted to the offenses and said that he's left the studio because "my bullshit is not the kind of thing HBS stands for or tolerates." 

"HBS had no idea any of this happened," Carpenter said. "Because of that, for the good of HBS and my victims, I've resigned from HBS effective immediately. There doesn't need to be any inquiry because, frankly, everything is true." 

Complaints against Carpenter ranged from inappropriate comments and persistent statements of romantic and sexual attraction, even after he was asked to stop, to groping a woman he played the Exalted RPG with on Geek Space TV. Guild Wars 2 writer and editor Elan Stimmel told the site that she had "lived in fear of [Carpenter] for years," while Jessica Price of the ArenaNet narrative team described him bluntly as "a gaslighting, assaulting, harassing abuser." 

Carpenter said he began seeking professional help for his behavior in January after he realized that "something was deeply wrong" with the way he related to other people. He also apparently issued an apology on his Twitter account, but that has since been locked. 

Harebrained Schemes, Carpenter's now-former employer, reacted to the allegations with a statement saying that it "needs to address the recent situation involving one of our ex-employees, and allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct." 

"The moment this situation came to our attention, we placed the employee on immediate leave while we conducted a full investigation. We determined the best course of action was that Harebrained Schemes would part ways with the employee, and that action was taken immediately," the studio said. 

"We are committed to providing a safe workspace for all our employees and will always take immediate action to maintain a safe, positive, respectful, and collaborative environment." 

Hyper RPG, which previously hosted Carpenter's Death From Above streaming series, tweeted yesterday that it "does not and will not work with people accused of physical or emotional abuse," although it did not mention Carpenter by name. Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, which is relaunching the series as Death From Above: Legacy, put out a more comprehensive statement saying that "these recent revelations ensure that [Carpenter] will not be involved in any capacity."