Former Bungie Director fired for inappropriate behavior wants back, claims his reputation’s been ‘deliberately destroyed’

Bungie’s had its fair share of lawsuits over the years, though the vast majority of them have had to do with the company pursuing cheaters and hackers. A far more serious case has since sprung up, however, and it concerns the former director Christopher Barret, who was fired over misconduct.

More specifically, Christopher Barret worked on the upcoming Bungie extraction shooter Marathon when he was fired over alleged misconduct. The details of what went down in the background have been rather hazy up until now, and it likely would’ve stayed that way had Barret not chosen to legally pursue Bungie and Sony over what he claims was a “sham” investigation into his behavior. It would seem that Sony is sick and tired of this entire schtick, however, because the company has effectively responded to Barret’s lawsuit with a 128-page filing supporting its decision to fire, as Game File .

Sony is intent on proving that Christopher Barret has, in fact, been fired from Bungie for good reason

As per , which Barret’s lawyers claim consists of messages that Sony would “disingenuously cherry-pick” to prove its point, Barret has been the target of numerous HR complaints for his pursuit of a junior employee.

Sony cites that Barret “targeted a lower-level, female employee he wasn’t working with directly, initially engaged in friendly conversation, and progressively pushed boundaries with the employee by making subtle references to her physical appearance or expressing his interest in her romantically. Barrett attempted to create an unprofessional level of intimacy with his victims.”

Case in point, here’s an example of Barret’s messaging to one of his victims, as cited by Game File: “I hope [your boyfriend] doesn’t mind I text you a lot” and “I just worry. Like I really enjoy texting you and talking. I don’t want him to get the right idea.” Later in the conversation, when VICTIM 3 told Barrett she was busy, Barrett stated, “I want your attention, so annoying.”

Sony has also said that Barret has “requested to follow personal Instagram accounts and would express anger to the women if they failed to respond to his messages. He would bring up inappropriate topics like their body, their relationships, his marriage, or his desire to date them. He would demand that they participate in sexually charged games of ‘Truth or Dare’ and ‘Ask Me Anything.’ He texted them at all hours of the day and night. He offered to buy them gifts. He often referenced his wealth and his ability to advance their careers.”

The most striking bit, in my opinion, is this slew of messages from Barret to one of the victims in question: “You are the holy grail. I hope you find a person worthy of your attention.” After the employee responded by saying she had a boyfriend who treated her very well, Barrett is said to have told her, “He better[.] Cuz I would hit on you if he wasn’t.” It’s claimed he later made further contact, writing, “You want to be worshipped, I think? Why are you against that actually happening?”

The list goes on and on, and I’m frankly astonished that Barret’s legal team still claims that “Christopher is confident that when all the evidence is presented, it will be clear that Sony engaged in a scheme to strip him of his role and the equity awards he earned for his 25 years of loyal service to the company.”

While the court will obviously have to make up its mind on who is actually in the right here, I’m coming up blank thinking of a situation that would make Barret’s behavior acceptable, regardless of whether the messages are cherry-picked or not. In a broader sense, Barret is trying to make the claim that Sony fired him specifically to avoid paying out over $80 million in bonuses he was promised after the company purchased Bungie back in 2022.

Setting aside the fact that all of this sounds like a mess no matter how you flip it, I’m genuinely glad that lawsuits such as these usually blow the case wide open to reveal what’s actually going on behind closed doors in large corporate environments such as Bungie. Hopefully, the victims will be able to find some comfort in that, at least.