Just over two years ago, Sony bought the former Microsoft-owned developer Bungie which was given a lot of autonomy within the company. Shortly after, a new Marathon was announced and Bungie seemed to be a huge addition for Sony.
Then Destiny’s problems began to mount, with leaders defecting in droves and – according to consistent reports – a very bad atmosphere, while financial estimates were failing. The last year has seen mostly negative reports about Bungie, so it is perhaps not surprising that it is now time for not one, but two strikes.
Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reports that “at least eight” female Bungie employees have reported Marathon director Chris Barrett for inappropriate behaviour, including “calling lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio, suggesting that he could help advance their careers”.
This has now led to Barrett being fired. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Marathon has lost its director, the admittedly reliable journalist Tom Henderson writes on social media that “Marathon is so cooked” and says he’s heard more.
And thus one can assume that the whole project might be in danger. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Bungie and Sony can sort all this out already, but it’s seemingly not looking bright.