Sony has pushed back against claims levied by former Bungie director Christopher Barrett, who sued the two companies in 2024 after he was fired from the Destiny 2 and Marathon developer. The PlayStation maker released a 128-page response (first obtained by GameFile), looking to dismiss six of the seven counts in Barrett’s lawsuit.
At the time, Barrett was laid off for alleged misconduct, which concerned “behaving inappropriately” toward at least eight women in different departments at Bungie. Barrett argued his firing was “unfounded” and accused Bungie and Sony of firing him to avoid giving him a $45 million payout from his employee agreement.
Sony’s response counters Barrett’s accusations, saying the investigation against him revealed his “consistent” behavior toward the unnamed employees.
“He 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,” the response begins. “Barrett attempted to create an unprofessional level of intimacy with his victims.”
The response goes on to allege Barrett frequently brought up “inappropriate topics” toward these women, such as their physical appearance, and would text them “at all hours of the day and night.” Several texts are cited in the response, and were further corroborated by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who first reported Barrett’s firing.
Barrett and Bungie’s alleged relationship
According to Sony, several of the victims told Barrett to stop or reported him to Bungie’s HR department. However, it’s claimed he would continue the pattern after initially backing off. His alleged behavior “made multiple female employees who were subordinate to him feel uncomfortable, fear retaliation, and feel victimized by their encounters with him. This impeded their ability to perform their job duties and thereby hindered [our] business operations.”
Legal representatives for Barrett told Game File that Sony continues to “disingenuously cherrypick text messages and alleged conversations and make unsupported and conclusory statements to defame Christopher and justify terminating him to avoid paying him what he was owed under his employment agreements. […] Nothing in Sony’s response provides a legitimate legal or factual basis to terminate Christopher for cause.”
Barrett has previously argued Bungie had a history of workplace toxicity that he was witness to. His initial lawsuit mentioned a “very senior executive” texting him and other high-level staffers inappropriate material and texts about the appearance of women employees at the studio. Sony said it “lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations,” but remain firm in its overall argument.
“Barrett’s allegations that he was ‘scapegoated,’ ‘falsely accused, and ‘defamed’ are outrageous considering the evidence,” continued Sony. “Hundreds of Barrett’s own written statements and the direct testimony of his many victims will demonstrate his termination for Cause was justified and this lawsuit is meritless.”
Sony’s full response can be read here.