According to a Bloomberg report, Christopher Barrett, former director of Marathon at Bungie, was fired in March following a misconduct investigation.
Jason Schreier reported that Bungie ran an internal investigation where “at least eight female employees raised complaints” about Barrett’s alleged inappropriate behavior. Barrett issued a statement to Bloomberg in response, saying that he “never understood his communications to be unwanted,” apologizing “if anyone ever felt that way about their interaction” with him. The report described Barrett befriending female employees before “blurring the lines between professional and personal” through copious text messages. The women who came forward cited Barrett’s seniority and influence as a source of discomfort.
Sony, Bungie’s owner, did not directly comment, but a spokesperson affirmed that the company takes all complaints of misconduct seriously. As the situation develops, fans have begun to lay out the timeline to assess Bungie’s response in the moment.
Joe Ziegler took over as Marathon’s director in the summer of 2023, and the investigation began around January 2024, although Schreier admitted to not knowing the exact date the HR investigation started. By March this year, Barrett was terminated from the company, which was also the month Bungie laid off about 17 percent of its workers. At the time, neither employees nor the public were informed of the reason behind Barrett leaving the company, and many heard he was on a sabbatical, according to the Bloomberg report. Schreier stated that after some time, people did find that Barrett’s accounts were disabled.
The situation has understandably sparked outrage on social media, and some have decided to air their grievances directly by responding to Barrett’s latest social media posts. Barrett spent almost 25 years at Bungie, and the good reputation he built at the company is now being perceived in a different light.
