Bungie announced in March that its upcoming Marathon reboot had a new game director: Joe Ziegler, the former director of Riot's online shooter Valorant, who joined Bungie in 2022. Ziegler took over from Christopher Barrett, well known among Bungie fans as a designer and director on the Halo and Destiny games who'd been with the studio for nearly 25 years. A reason for Barrett's surprise departure wasn't provided, but a new Bloomberg report says he was fired following an investigation into multiple complaints about inappropriate workplace behavior.
At least eight women at Bungie had complained about Barrett, according to multiple sources, and the subsequent investigation found that he had called lower-ranking female employees attractive, asked them to play Truth or Dare, and talked about his wealth and power within Bungie, apparently suggesting that he could help their careers at the company.
