Bungie removed Chris Barrett after internal investigation

Bungie is one of the most prominent developers in the video game industry. News broke on Wednesday that Chris Barrett’s removal from the organization was due to accusations of inappropriate behavior from several female employees.

In March, Barrett suddenly left Bungie without much of an explanation. At the time, he was the director of the company’s latest project, Marathon. This came after a widely successful tenure with the company where he rose up through the ranks as an artist and then a director on entries into the popular Halo and Destiny franchises. He was a part of Bungie’s board when the company was purchased by Sony in 2022 for $3.6 billion.

Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reported the news, speaking directly to information received from his sources. According to the investigation, Barrett did such things as call lower-level female employees attractive, invite them to play games of truth-or-dare, and flaunted his wealth and power within gaming. In interviews during the investigation, the advances were called “unwanted” and those involved felt “uncomfortable because Barrett was significantly more powerful than they were at the company.” Schreier’s report also referenced text messages that included “flirtatious messages” and invitations to hang out.

Bungie has faced issues with workplace culture in the past. In 2021 the company was hit with accusations that its Human Resources departments were not willing to deal with complaints about inappropriate behavior within the organization.

The video games industry continues to face issues of misconduct in the workplace. Companies such as Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Riot Games, and others have been hit with legal action after dealing with allegations in the past few years. Activision and Riot paid out massive sums of $55 million and $100 million respectively to settle lawsuits.

Many industries are facing a referendum on powerful individuals behaving inappropriately with employees in the workplace. The news of Bungie removing Chris Barrett falls in line with that movement and the push to create a safer workplace for all.