Former Bungie developer Chris Barrett has initiated legal action against Bungie and Sony, alleging they "falsely destroyed his reputation"
A lawsuit has been initiated by Chris Barrett, the former director of the Marathon reboot, against Bungie and Sony. Barrett accuses them of "deliberately destroy[ing his] reputation" by falsely suggesting they conducted an investigation that found him guilty of sexual misconduct. He also claims this was done to avoid paying him a $45 million settlement.
Barrett, who reportedly lost his position at Bungie earlier this year, was fired after an internal review concerning alleged inappropriate behavior towards female colleagues. His legal representatives argue that these allegations were not substantiated, stating Bungie had clear motives to "shift blame for and deflect attention away from their massive business failures." They argue that Barrett was unfairly used to meet these objectives.
"And to achieve those corporate objectives, they were willing to sacrifice Barrett," stated the legal documentation, as reported by VentureBeat.
Documents claim Barrett was never questioned on whether he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct, sent inappropriate materials, retaliated against, or discriminated against colleagues. Barrett alleges the accusations were unfounded, and he was terminated through Microsoft Teams for gross misconduct three weeks after the investigation.
The lawsuit alleges misleading statements were given to Bloomberg to deflect from Sony's $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie and the delays in video game productions, blaming Barrett for his role in Marathon. It also suggests these statements falsely implicated Barrett in severe misconduct to divert attention from internal #MeToo issues.
According to the lawsuit, Barrett has faced harassment and public ridicule, lost personal and professional relationships, and seen strained family connections. It claims that the allegations have crushed his aspirations of launching his own video game company, a dream once possible for the acclaimed designer of several iconic games.
