Bungie has reportedly fired former Marathon director Christopher Barrett for inappropriate behavior towards female employees

Bungie announced that Joe Ziegler was the new director for its upcoming Marathon reboot. Ziegler is the former director of Riot’s online shooter Valorant. He joined Bungie 2022. Ziegler replaced Christopher Barrett, a Bungie veteran who was known to Bungie fans for his work as a designer and director of the Halo and Destiny video games. Barrett had been with Bungie for almost 25 years. Barrett's sudden departure was not explained, but Bloomberg reports that he was fired after an investigation into complaints of inappropriate workplace behavior.

According to multiple sources, at least eight women had complained about Barrett. The investigation revealed that he called lower-ranking employees attractive, asked them if they wanted to play Truth or Dare and spoke about his wealth and power at Bungie. He also suggested that he might help their career at the company.

The site reported that Barrett would befriend the women in the company and then send them "flirtatious text messages" and requests to "hangout." The messages made many women uncomfortable, as they were unwanted. This was due to the extreme power imbalance involved. It's hard to say "no," after all, to one of the most powerful people in the company.

Barrett denied any wrongdoing intentionally in a statement released to Bloomberg. "I feel I have always conducted my self with integrity and I've been respectful and supportive towards my colleagues, some of whom I consider as my closest friends. I never considered my communications unwanted, and I would never have thought they could have made anyone uncomfortable. "I am sorry if anyone ever felt this way about my interaction with them."

The report on the reasons behind Barrett's termination is released at a time when Bungie is in turmoil. It has been hit by massive layoffs, tensions between Bungie and its parent company Sony, employee and fan dissatisfaction, and seemingly never-ending struggles with Destiny 2, its flagship game. Barrett was a producer for the Forsaken extension that was released in September 2018. He was widely credited for turning the game around at a time when community unhappiness was high.

The Marathon reboot, about which little has been said since it was announced in May 2023, has also been reportedly delayed until 2025. PC Gamer's sources at Bungie indicated that the development of the game had fallen behind schedule and is generally troubled.

I've contacted Bungie to ask for a comment on this report. I will update you if I get a response.