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Bungie responds to lawsuit filed by Christopher Barrett over 2024 firing

Bungie fired Barrett after an internal investigation of misconduct allegations, which he called a 'sham' in a recent lawsuit.

Donovan Erskine

February 20, 2025 12:35 PM

Bungie

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In December 2024, ex-Bungie veteran Christopher Barrett filed a lawsuit against the company over his termination earlier in the year. While it was reported that the Destiny 2 developer fired Barrett after an HR investigation into claims of misconduct, Barrett claimed that Bungie terminated him to avoid giving him an owed $45 million payout. Bungie has now responded to that lawsuit and the claims within, denying Barrett's claims and providing examples of messages he exchanged with former coworkers.

Sony and Bungie’s latest court filing was published his week by GameFile’s Stephen Totilo. In it, the companies said that Barrett had a pattern of behavior:

The filing goes on to list nine alleged examples of Barrett texting, calling, and speaking to female coworkers at Bungie in an inappropriate manner.

In Christopher Barrett’s lawsuit, he claimed that he was owed a $45 million payout following Sony’s acquisition of Bungie, and that the allegations were fabricated so that the company could avoid making the payment.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_