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[Men_in_Boxes]

Ex-Bungie dev Chris Barrett sues Bungie and Sony for "falsely destroying his reputation"

Former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett has filed a lawsuit against Bungie and Sony for "deliberately destroy[ing…

www.gamesindustry.biz

"Former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett has filed a lawsuit against Bungie and Sony for "deliberately destroy[ing his] reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating they had 'investigated' Barrett and 'found' he had engaged in sexual misconduct," and to avoid paying him a $45 million payment.

Barrett was reportedly fired by Bungie earlier this year following an internal investigation into inappropriate behaviour against female colleagues. In court papers, Barrett's lawyers suggest his former employer "did not care that none of it was true; they had blatant motivations for their brazen scheme," only wanting to "shift blame for and deflect attention away from their massive business failures.

"And to achieve those corporate objectives, they were willing to sacrifice Barrett," the papers asserted (thanks, VentureBeat).

"Barrett was never asked whether he had ever engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct, whether he ever sent inappropriate sexual or pornographic materials to a co-worker, or whether he ever retaliated against a co-worker for rebuffing his advances or discriminated against a female colleague on the basis of her sex.

"Barrett was not asked those questions because Barrett did not engage in, and has not been accused of, any such conduct," the papers added.

Three weeks after the investigation, Barrett alleged he was let go via Microsoft Teams for gross misconduct.

"They then completed the Machiavellian trifecta by providing wildly misleading statements to Bloomberg designed to: (i) deflect blame for Sony's poorly performing $3.6 Billion acquisition of Bungie and delays in video game production by casting shade on Barrett for his role on Marathon and (ii) shift blame for their own public #MeToo problems by falsely insinuating that the accusations of severe misconduct had been directed at Barrett, when they had not," the lawsuit added."

"[Barrett] has been the subject of harassment and public ridicule, has lost friends and professional opportunities, and has seen relationships with family strained," the papers explained. "His lifelong dream of launching his own video game company (once within reach for a respected designer of multiple legendary games) has been crushed."

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Or, he is indeed guilty.

In both cases he would make these claims.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Or, he is indeed guilty.

In both cases he would make these claims.

Due process for the win. Let it all shake out in court.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Lol

 

[near]

He should sue Jason Schreier for that original article if there was any falsehood in that too.

 

[SJRB]

"[Barrett] has been the subject of harassment and public ridicule, has lost friends and professional opportunities, and has seen relationships with family strained," the papers explained. "His lifelong dream of launching his own video game company (once within reach for a respected designer of multiple legendary games) has been crushed."

Dude's gonna get grinded into dust by the billion dollar conglomerate.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

He was entitled to a $45M payment? From the bungie buyout?

Wow.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

Dude needs to just open up an OnlyFans with his hot wife and call it a day.

 

[Little Chicken]

Where can I donate?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

worst acquisition eva

 

[Spukc]

pics of wife?

 

[near]

pics of wife?

Spoiler

 

[Spukc]

Spoiler

?

 

[bitbydeath]

Where can I donate?

Buy some damn Xbox games.

 

[Zacfoldor]

What a fuggin shite show mate.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

In this universe the least thing that I can think of is Bloomberg investigation willingly supporting Sony, especially by Jason S.

So good luck in court, I guess. Let the due process do its thing.

 

[Sardaukarama]

45 million silver ! Dayuum

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Spoiler

wow, she was is pretty hot

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Bungie is known for kicking people out for BS reasons to avoid payouts. At least according to Martin O'Donnell.

 

[Banjo64]

Would be pointless to lie about not being questioned by Sony. There would be a record of such a meeting if it took place and Sony would be able to easily disprove it.

If Sony sacked broke employment/contract law by sacking him they should pay the man. Simple. $45m seems obscene for a game developer though?

 

[adamsapple]

Hope he gets the full payout amount.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

IGN article says he’s suing them for $200M, including $90M owed in payouts. So that’s where all that $1.2B employee retention money is going to. Imagine what Pete parsons package is worth.

Former Bungie Director Chris Barrett Suing Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for More Than $200 Million - IGN

Former Bungie director Chris Barrett is suing PlayStation and Bungie for more than $200 million, denying allegations of sexual misconduct and claiming that his firing was intended to avoid paying out nearly $50 million owed under his employment agreement.

www.ign.com

 

[A.Romero]

Just by reading the articles I can't see where Sony accused him or supported any accusations.

Bloomberg was the one that stated that at least 8 women accused him and apparently in a statement by Barret he said he didn't mean to offend anyone.

I think it's a tough case but maybe Sony prefers to settle out of court and put it to rest.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Welp, let court do its thing. This will be interesting to see pan out nonetheless.

 

[Mr Moose]

The fuck would they pay him $45M for?

IGN article says he’s suing them for $200M, including $90M owed in payouts. So that’s where all that $1.2B employee retention money is going to. Imagine what Pete parsons package is worth.

Former Bungie Director Chris Barrett Suing Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for More Than $200 Million - IGN

Former Bungie director Chris Barrett is suing PlayStation and Bungie for more than $200 million, denying allegations of sexual misconduct and claiming that his firing was intended to avoid paying out nearly $50 million owed under his employment agreement.

www.ign.com

What the fuck, it doubled. Why would be be owed that?

 

[Guardian Monkey]

The fuck would they pay him $45M for?

What the fuck, it doubled. Why would be be owed that?

No 45m is Washington state law or something, he is stating the other 45m is due to vesting, the other $100m or so is repetitional harm etc..

 

[Nonehxc]

Ex-Bungie dev Chris Barrett sues Bungie and Sony for "falsely destroying his reputation"

Former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett has filed a lawsuit against Bungie and Sony for "deliberately destroy[ing…

www.gamesindustry.biz

"Former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett has filed a lawsuit against Bungie and Sony for "deliberately destroy[ing his] reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating they had 'investigated' Barrett and 'found' he had engaged in sexual misconduct," and to avoid paying him a $45 million payment.

Barrett was reportedly fired by Bungie earlier this year following an internal investigation into inappropriate behaviour against female colleagues. In court papers, Barrett's lawyers suggest his former employer "did not care that none of it was true; they had blatant motivations for their brazen scheme," only wanting to "shift blame for and deflect attention away from their massive business failures.

"And to achieve those corporate objectives, they were willing to sacrifice Barrett," the papers asserted (thanks, VentureBeat).

"Barrett was never asked whether he had ever engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct, whether he ever sent inappropriate sexual or pornographic materials to a co-worker, or whether he ever retaliated against a co-worker for rebuffing his advances or discriminated against a female colleague on the basis of her sex.

"Barrett was not asked those questions because Barrett did not engage in, and has not been accused of, any such conduct," the papers added.

Three weeks after the investigation, Barrett alleged he was let go via Microsoft Teams for gross misconduct.

"They then completed the Machiavellian trifecta by providing wildly misleading statements to Bloomberg designed to: (i) deflect blame for Sony's poorly performing $3.6 Billion acquisition of Bungie and delays in video game production by casting shade on Barrett for his role on Marathon and (ii) shift blame for their own public #MeToo problems by falsely insinuating that the accusations of severe misconduct had been directed at Barrett, when they had not," the lawsuit added."

"[Barrett] has been the subject of harassment and public ridicule, has lost friends and professional opportunities, and has seen relationships with family strained," the papers explained. "His lifelong dream of launching his own video game company (once within reach for a respected designer of multiple legendary games) has been crushed."

Guess he was running a Marathon around the studio with his Bungie

 

[Clear]

Seems like a stretch to me.

Bottom line is that there are two questions implied by the suit as described:

1. He was unfairly accused, and unfairly dismissed for gross misconduct.
2. That this was part of an elaborate plot to cheaply get rid of him.

He'll need to get the people who accused him of misconduct to testify that what they said was untrue. Which isn't likely, because in the end its a "he-said, she-said", and testifying is only going to hurt them

Then He'll need to prove that due disciplinary process wasn't followed, which if there were accusations that he didn't immediately deny, defend or disprove, isn't going to be easy.

Then, when that's proven, he'll then need to demonstrate not only an ulterior motive, but evidence of collusion in pursuit of an aim to get rid of him and destroy his reputation.

That... seems like a lot to prove. Especially as they probably could have simply demoted him on the basis that the project wasn't proceeding in a satisfactory manner.

And of course, if the project was in fact going well, why would they want to shitcan a top creative on a multi-million dollar project and risk far greater losses than a dividend payout they'd already agreed to?

All things being equal. this doesn't look like a winner to me.

 

[T-0800]

 

[diffusionx]

lol good work buying this shitshow of a company Hermen

 

[diffusionx]

Just by reading the articles I can't see where Sony accused him or supported any accusations.

Bloomberg was the one that stated that at least 8 women accused him and apparently in a statement by Barret he said he didn't mean to offend anyone.

I think it's a tough case but maybe Sony prefers to settle out of court and put it to rest.

Where do you think Bloomberg got the info from? He’s saying that they leaked it to Bloomberg to provide cover for what they did, which is standard operating procedure.

 

[Skifi28]

Where can I donate?

KFC.

 

[A.Romero]

Where do you think Bloomberg got the info from? He’s saying that they leaked it to Bloomberg to provide cover for what they did, which is standard operating procedure.

It will be interesting to see how he proves that. I'm guessing he is betting on that.
It would be cool to see Jason testifying and then the leaker. The leaker would need to state that it was a request from Sony's management, I'd guess.

 

[Pejo]

I take no 'sides' in this, mostly because I don't care about either party involved, but I am interested to see if he can prove those accusations in court. Seems unlikely at a glance, but 2024 has been a hell of a year for weird current events.

 

[Clear]

Where do you think Bloomberg got the info from? He’s saying that they leaked it to Bloomberg to provide cover for what they did, which is standard operating procedure.

Even if they did leak the accusations it was on Bloomberg to check the facts. And I've read at least one report that states they did in fact interview some of the complainants. So unless they can get them to roll over and say they lied, which will destroy them reputationally (as well as undermine their credibility as witnesses).

He's angling for an out-of-court settlement based on overall reputational damage; which Sony may not bite on as it'll save them a fortune in vestments if they can get rid of most of Bungie's senior management in one fell swoop!

 

[nial]

lol good work buying this shitshow of a company Hermen

He had nothing to do with the Bungie acquisition, stop with these AI-generated responses.

 

[LordCBH]

 

[near]

Ex-Marathon Director Sues Bungie And Sony For $200M, Alleges Firing Was To Avoid Paying Nearly $50 Million | PDF

Ex-Marathon Director Sues Bungie And Sony For $200M

www.scribd.com

Interesting read.

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

He should sue Jason Schreier for that original article if there was any falsehood in that too.

Doubtful. As much as people lambaste Schreier, his articles are well sourced and fact checked.
He might be able to for defamation but then Schreier would be able to produce his work which they would have to find fault with- which is tricky when it comes to journalists.

 

[BlackTron]

Where can I donate?

KFC.

Nah...go where you are actually wanted.

Spoiler

 

[simpatico]

Or, he is indeed guilty.

In both cases he would make these claims.

This is asking for intense scrutiny. Would be a bonehead move if he was guilty.

 

[near]

Doubtful. As much as people lambaste Schreier, his articles are well sourced and fact checked.
He might be able to for defamation but then Schreier would be able to produce his work which they would have to find fault with- which is tricky when it comes to journalists.

To be fair he doesn’t need to if he wins this case against Sony.

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

To be fair he doesn’t need to if he wins this case against Sony.

Yup that is true as well.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

?

How young are you? You dont know what a rickroll is?

 

[Katatonic]

worst acquisition eva

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Spoiler

Fuuuuuuck I got rolled...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Is that document even real? Whomever put it together spelled Current wrong.

As for payouts for vested stock, that all comes down to if the contract says the company has to pay you out no matter what. I get small amounts of vested stock from my company too. But I only get it if I'm still employed when the cash out deadline hits. If I leave on my own, retire, or get fired, I get zero.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Dude needs to just open up an OnlyFans with his hot wife and call it a day.

She's got those lefty lunatic eyes

 

[Jinzo Prime]

She's got those lefty lunatic eyes

They both look crazy.