Sony has responded to a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed in December 2024 by former Destiny 2 and Marathon game director Christopher Barrett, saying Barrett's termination in 2024 was "justified," and that his lawsuit is "meritless." To back up its claim, Sony included multiple examples of written communications between Barrett and female subordinates in its reply, which it claims "reveal his pattern of misconduct."
The examples in Sony's filing include alleged drunk calls, requests to play "sexually charged games of 'Truth or Dare'," and comments such as "You want to be worshipped, I think?" Barrett's lawyers say that Sony is misrepresenting the nature of the interactions by cherry-picking text messages and "alleged conversations."
Barrett sued Sony over the claim that the company had "deliberately destroyed Barrett's reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating they had 'investigated' Barrett and 'found' he had engaged in sexual misconduct," and subsequently fired him as a result of those claims. The real reason for his termination, he alleged, was to avoid paying him more than $45 million he was owed under his employment agreement, and to "shift blame for and deflect attention from their massive business failures."
In its response, available in full via Game File, Sony denies Barrett's claim, saying it conducted a "thorough internal investigation" of the complaints against him and found that his behavior "was consistent: 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."
"Barrett attempted to create an unprofessional level of intimacy with his victims," Sony wrote in its response. "He requested to follow personal Instagram accounts and would express anger to the women if they failed to respond to his messages. He would bring up inappropriate topics like their body, their relationships, his marriage, or his desire to date them. He would demand that they participate in sexually charged games of 'Truth or Dare' and 'Ask Me Anything.' He texted them at all hours of the day and night. He offered to buy them gifts. He often referenced his wealth and his ability to advance their careers."
Barrett did indeed have wealth to flaunt: Prior to his termination, Barrett was paid more than $38 million over the two years following Sony's acquisition of Bungie.
Sony's filing includes multiple examples of communications between Barrett and female employees at Bungie, which include questions and comments about their appearance and clothing and alleged drunken phone calls; in one exchange, according to the filing, he said he hoped the employee's boyfriend didn't mind that he was texting her so much, because "I don't want him to get the right idea." The filing also states that in at least one instance, Barrett initiated a FaceTime call with a female employee "late at night while drunk" despite her "explicit request in writing for Barrett to recognize 'boundaries'."
Barrett denied any intentional wrongdoing when he filed his lawsuit against Sony.
"I feel that I have always conducted myself with integrity and been respectful and supportive of my colleagues, many of whom I consider my closest friends," he said in a statement at the time. "I never understood my communications to be unwanted and I would have never thought they could possibly have made anyone feel uncomfortable. If anyone ever felt that way about their interaction with me, I am truly sorry."
Sony, however, claims that even in cases where he was told by his subordinates to stop, he "initially feigned compliance" but then "promptly picked back up again with his disturbing behavior in his next communication."
"Incredibly, Barrett’s complaint alleges that these encounters were 'of mutual interest' and that he 'respected any expressed boundaries'," Sony's filing states. "Such allegations are belied by the women’s multiple direct reports to Human Resources, the messages exchanged, and the women’s contemporaneous conversations with their colleagues describing Barrett’s misconduct."
In a statement provided to Game File, lawyers representing Barrett said Sony's filing misrepresents the actual nature of the communications between him and other employees at Bungie. They maintain that the real reason for his termination was to avoid paying him the balance remaining on his contract.
"Sony continues to disingenuously cherry pick 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," Barrett's legal team said. "It is telling that Sony does not include the full text messages as exhibits, or the full content of these conversations, and nothing in Sony's response provides a legitimate legal or factual basis to terminate Christopher for cause.
"Christopher is confident that when all the evidence is presented, it will be clear that Sony engaged in a scheme to strip him of his role and the equity awards he earned for his 25 years of loyal service to the company."
There is a lot of money on the table—but also a lot of money already paid. Sony's reply includes a detailed breakdown of what Barrett earned following Sony's acquisition of Bungie in January 2022, and what was left on his contract when he was terminated: He was paid $36,811,044 in 2022, and $1,883,057 in 2023; he was due to collect another $45,579,627 from 2024-2026, broken down into three payments of $941,529 each for unvested RSUs [restricted stock units] in May and November 2024 and May 2025, and three payments of $14,251,680 each for re-vested shares (including Premium Bonus) in July 2024, July 2025, and July 2026.
Putting the questions of the lawsuit aside, those figures are staggering to see appearing alongside the layoffs at Bungie in 2023 and 2024 that put hundreds of people out of work, including numerous long-time employees who were known and beloved by the Destiny community.
Sony said it intends to file a motion to dismiss counts 2 through 7 of Barrett's lawsuit, and is seeking costs and expenses including attorney's fees related to the case.
