Bungie reportedly fired Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett for "unwanted" and "inappropriate" messages to female staff

rockpapershotgun.com:

Back in March, Bungie announced a leadership reshuffle on their Marathon reboot project, with former Valorant dev Joe Ziegler replacing veteran Bungie designer Christopher Barrett as director. It seems there was more to that story than concern about the progress of Marathon. According to a new Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources, Barrett was in fact fired this spring after he was accused by several female Bungie staff of inappropriate behaviour.

What does "inappropriate behaviour" mean? According to two of Bloomberg's sources, it means comments upon the appearance of lower-level employees, requests to hang out together, suggestions that he could use his wealth and power to advance their careers, and invitations to play truth-or-dare.

According to Bloomberg's sources, Barrett would befriend women in various Bungie departments and bombard them with text messages which, the site says, "blurred the lines between professional and personal". Several people interviewed described Barrett's advances as unwanted, and said that they felt uncomfortable given Barrett's greater seniority at Bungie. Bloomberg have reviewed some of the text messages in question, but aren't sharing details to avoid exposing their recipients.

Bloomberg claims that Barrett was eventually let go following an internal investigation in which at least eight women raised complaints about him. That last bit is according to eight sources, including both some of the women who reported Barrett and others who were involved with the investigation or spoke to the women who raised complaints. Barrett's departure was kept quiet: certain Bungie staff apparently thought that he had gone on sabbatical, but then discovered that his company accounts had been disabled.

In a statement to Bloomberg, Barrett both pushed back against the claims and apologised for his behaviour. "I feel that I have always conducted myself with integrity and been respectful and supportive of my colleagues, many of whom I consider my