Sony Retaliates in Bungie Director Lawsuit, Cites Explicit Texts as Evidence

Sony officially responded to the wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Ex-Bungie director Christopher Barret. Barret claimed that Sony “deliberately destroyed” his reputation by falsely investigating him.

In the now 128 page lawsuit, Barrett attempts to expose Bungie, and by extension Sony, for their allegedly corrupt culture. He claims the investigation was skewed to “avoid paying Barrett the nearly $50 million he is owed under his employment agreement.”  

If he had not been preemptively fired, Barrett allegedly would have received around $50 million from Sony’s acquisition of Bungie. The veteran developer also brings attention to the normalized verbal abuse, sexist remarks, and discrimination that took place in the workplace – allegations that are sparking concern in the gaming community.

Sony fired back with evidence of Christopher Barrett’s sexual misconduct. Texts between him and numerous female coworkers were shown, where he openly flirted with them regardless of their relationship status. 

According to Sony, “some victims did tell Barrett to stop. But even in cases where he initially feigned compliance, Barrett promptly picked back up again with his disturbing behavior in his next communication.” 

The company gave an official reason for Barretts’ termination:

“On March 25, 2024, Defendants terminated Barrett, Bungie’s Executive Creative Director, for ‘Cause’ after multiple female subordinate employees individually reported to Human Resources that Barrett engaged in inappropriate behavior and disturbing written and verbal communications.”

In their legal response to Barrett’s lawsuit, Sony addresses each paragraph and every sentence. 

Though they rejected a lot of Barrett’s claims, Sony’s reasoning for rejecting many of them is that the “defendants lack knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as the truth of the allegations,” and therefore deny the allegation.

They used this strategy for a lot of the cultural abnormalities Barrett brought up – which includes making “sexual mom jokes and racist jokes” alongside pulling down pants and flashing buttocks in the workplace.

Christopher Barrett was a veteran Bungie developer and served as Executive Creative Director, playing a major role in shaping the Destiny franchise. He was heavily involved in the series’ evolution, contributing to expansions like The Taken King and Forsaken, which were widely praised for revitalizing Destiny with significant content updates and gameplay improvements. More recently, he was leading development on Marathon, Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter, which marks the studio’s first new game outside of Destiny universe in over a decade. Barrett was considered a key figure in defining the game’s visual identity and long-term creative direction.