Bungie CEO publicly apologizes for reports exposing austerity, racism, sexism, and toxic team leadership

Bungie CEO Pete Parsons apologized for the company’s violations after a report surfaced, citing examples of austerity, discrimination, racism and sexism.

In the report, IGN talked with 26 current and former Bungie employees. They revealed instances of the above-mentioned illegal acts as early as this year and even as early as 2011.

The studio’s narrative team sometimes works up to 100 hours a week, especially led by a toxic boss. Several sources said that a team leader of “Destiny 1” suffered such severe burnout and his harmful behavior created such a harmful environment. The employees recorded the “countdown” of his last “explosion” on the whiteboard. “. He even threw a chair into the window once because he felt that the team members “undermined his creative vision for the game.” The team leader finally left Bungie after working there for a few years. Despite this behavior, he was welcomed back to work on Destiny 2’s contract. Even after leaving the company for a while, the staff claimed that his behavior did not greatly improve his return.

Another narrative team leader who was eventually fired was apparently a “sexist nightmare”, yelling at the meeting, throwing documents on the table, and calling a female staff member an “unmanageable bitch.” . The report stated that his replacement was not much better because he often made sexist remarks, complained about “reverse sexism,” and once made homophobic remarks against LGBTQ colleagues. Allegedly, another narrative protagonist often insulted employees who stood up for him, and even forced an employee to a corner and shouted that they would dare to stand up against him. Many people said that he also made racist remarks.

Narrative clues and other unwelcome behaviors have become so unbearable that writers try to solve the clue problem through the human resources department. The human resources department did not mediate, but told employees that they need to work harder with others. Many employees even wrote to CEO Pete Parsons for help, but he never responded.

In the end, multiple members of the narrative team threatened to withdraw collectively, including every woman in the team. It seems that Bungie finally listened because it dismissed the clues that caused the employees’ pain. Today, the department’s situation has improved in terms of funding, hiring more employees, and new leaders.

Narrative is not the only team with an unhealthy work environment. The IGN report states that bad behavior and other unwelcome issues have affected “every major team” of the company at some point. There are reports on sexual remarks, cases of deliberately wrong sex discrimination against transgender employees, belittles and “unwelcome hugs” issued by producers. Reports of women and marginalized employees being denied promotions for ambiguous reasons are also common. For example, a writer was not promoted because she was “not good enough” in the game.

After the report was published and various cultures of abuse and austerity were made public, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons apologized.

In a public apology to current and former employees, Parsons admitted that sometimes the company did not fire offenders “quickly” as it should have been, and stated that the studio would not tolerate anyone’s bad behavior—even those with well-known records. .

Parsons said: “I want to apologize to anyone who has experienced an unsafe, fair, and professional working environment in Bungie.” The experience shared by people who have graced our studio. Our actions, or in some cases, inaction, have caused pain to these people. I personally and apologize on behalf of everyone at Bungie, everyone I know is reading These narrations are deeply sympathetic and sad.

“We remove bad actors from our studio regardless of their tenure, seniority or relationships-we can only take action when brave people stand up or conduct bad behavior publicly. We are not always transparent. What caused them to be fired or as quickly as we should, but we will not tolerate anyone’s bad behavior. Becoming a “rock star” is not an excuse, no matter how famous someone’s track record is.

“We are now reading and digesting the full story for the first time today. We believe that those who were fired by our company have been fired or no longer work for Bungie, but if new information is exposed-either through this story or Come forward by named or anonymous people-we will take action based on this information and investigate in good faith.”

Parsons continued to discuss how Bungie strives to create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, and triggered the company’s recent statement about how it is Firm Become the “best place where anyone can work” in the industry.

As of 2021, members of the underrepresented community account for 50% of Bungie’s board of directors. Four of the nine representatives of the Bungie executive team are women or members of the underrepresented community, and have hired one chief personnel officer and one Experienced diversity and inclusion director.

According to Parsons, the company will also eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses in all employee contracts and will continue to invest in training and processes to help avoid bias in performance evaluation and promotion and compensation practices. It will add an anonymous reporting tool that will be hosted by an external organization to “further eliminate any hesitation” Bungie employees may have to raise concerns.

Although Parson said he was “encouraged” by the company’s progress, it did not “eliminate people’s bad experience in the studio.”

“As the CEO, my job is to take the past and the future into consideration, and be responsible for all of this, here and now, he said.” Talk to Bungie’s team, read the story, and see what’s known and what With the new accounts, it is clear that we still have work to do.

“I am committed to it. We are not yet a studio that we have the potential to become, but we are on the way. We will not rest or slow down these efforts because we recognize that the journey of inclusivity, diversity, and fairness is that this is in itself The destination we all strive for. This is essential to realizing our vision and realizing the potential of Bungie’s enthusiasm, fair creativity, and technology home.”