For more than 10 years, Bungie has evidently faced serious issues with workplace culture, as reported by IGN. While working on Destiny 1, the story team was led by a boss who had a tendency to have outbursts and apparently suffered from burnout. At one point, he threw a chair out of a window. Things did not improve with Destiny 2.
Where do the information come from? The site IGN spoke with 26 current and former employees at Bungie. 25 wish to remain anonymous, but one team author, Cookie Hiponia, is willing to be named.
A multi-page insider report has emerged, providing many insights into Bungie’s work processes and repeatedly pointing out deep-seated, alarming issues within the story team.
“I laughed when I read Bungie’s response to Activision Blizzard”
Why is the report coming out now? Bungie publicly addressed the sexism scandal surrounding Activision Blizzard in September and announced its own measures to create a safe workplace. Bungie was praised for being “transparent.”
However, it seems that some current or former employees felt that this was “too little, too late” and were ready to talk about the team’s problems.
A former employee is quoted as saying:
“When I read Bungie’s response to Activision Blizzard, I had to laugh. That is not my experience there. They have a core value that says they do not tolerate assholes, even if they are rock stars, but that is exactly what they do. […] They have values they want to achieve, but they do not implement them at all.”
Anonymous source from IGN
That’s what makes the insider report so special: Normally, such things do not happen at Bungie. While other employees are willing to go public with their issues to the media, like at Activision Blizzard or EA, almost nothing gets out about Bungie.
Bungie is chronically “tight-lipped,” with the exception of a few glimpses we had in 2015 into the development of Destiny 1 and a few anecdotes from Luke Smith in 2019; such reports from inside Bungie are otherwise very rare.
In 2016, half of Bungie’s staff left, and the CEO and many employees left the studio – and to this day, we still do not know exactly what happened.
Burnout led to outbursts from the story lead
What was going on with Destiny 1? An important part of the insider report focuses on the narrative team of Destiny 1. It states:
In Destiny 1, there was a narrative lead who was determined to implement his vision for the game but was completely overwhelmed and suffered from burnout. He reportedly freaked out so regularly and yelled that a whiteboard was used to keep track of how long it had been since his last outburst.
At one point, he threw a chair through a window because he felt that others were “ruining his creative vision for the game”
The man stayed at the studio for years, left, but then returned for Destiny 2 to do contract work. In this role, he frequently acted as if he were still responsible for the story and regularly yelled at Destiny 2 authors – at one point it was so bad that a female employee cried and then refused to speak to him alone on the phone.
Male rock stars oppressed women and minorities
What happened next: The other bosses in the story team were reportedly just as difficult. They spoke of egotistical rock stars who regularly tormented their teams. Women in particular were said to have suffered under the toxic work culture:
- As a result, people in the story team constantly left and changed.
- The team was apparently constantly overwhelmed and did not get the staff they requested. They wanted to convert freelancers to full-time positions, but the studio rejected requests. Contracts were not renewed but were allowed to expire. This led to months of periods where the department remained understaffed.
- The male lead writers allegedly portrayed female characters in Destiny in “demeaning, sexist ways.” They had clashes with other writers, especially female authors. It is said that men on the team drew characters in shocking, unrecognizable ways while the women were forced to watch.
- Two male bosses of the story team are described as “authoritarian, cruel bosses” and “sexist nightmares” who treated female authors in such a way that they were regarded as if they were hired as secretaries.
- When women complained about their treatment, they were told that they needed to toughen up.
- The bosses humiliated employees in front of the team and then said that it was meant to be funny.
- Complaints to the HR department led to nothing. It is said that there were people whose job it was to dismiss such complaints. Employees felt that Bungie protected the “rock stars” of the company, even if they behaved completely inappropriately.
- People in Bungie’s leadership had code names for the women in the studio whom they found attractive. The code names referenced the physical appearance or hair color of the women. Some were simply derogatory. These code names were used without the women knowing.
Stress between the story department and the cinematics
What problems were there with cooperation?
There have repeatedly been issues with the leadership level, especially with former story leads who were promoted but were dissatisfied with the current story. The problem was apparently that the bosses had a vague idea of what “the vision” of Destiny 1 should be. It was just vague, diffuse, and nowhere documented. The authors of Destiny 2 were repeatedly criticized for not fulfilling this vision.
Another major problem was the collaboration between the story department and the cinematic department, which enjoyed higher prestige within Bungie.
It is said that the cinematic department often did its own thing, did not coordinate with the story department, and made decisions that led to the story having to be completely rewritten.
Writers would find out about some changes to their work only when the voice lines had already been recorded.
What was the problem with crunch? Because the story team was chronically understaffed and did not get help, employees had to work between 60 and 100 hours when an expansion was upcoming. One team member reportedly became so ill that they could no longer type and had to dictate text.
The issue was strongly linked to the fact that the story team was consistently criticized from both outside and within.
What was the issue with reddit? It is said that the criticism of the first DLC of Destiny 2, “Curse of Osiris,” was terrible on reddit. Individual women from the story team were singled out as guilty and were attacked.
These comments were then sent by a Bungie leader to other studio heads to show that the story was the problem.
In front of the team, it was said that they need not worry, as the authors from Destiny 1 would be brought back to solve the problems. As a result, the authors of Destiny 2 became afraid to do anything that would be poorly received by the community – thus they continued to crunch.
How bad was the situation in other departments? Although the report mainly focuses on the story team, it says that there were also issues with certain leadership figures in other departments at Bungie who behaved completely inappropriately.
There were surely repeated issues with long-time employees in leadership positions, who had been at Bungie since Halo 3, believing they could take liberties, and treating women poorly. There were also reports of racist and homophobic remarks.
The report also mentions that many sources said Bungie was still better than many other gaming studios. Only a few reported “physical harassment,” with some having little or no negative experiences.
But you do not have to have posters of naked women in the office to be problematic. The issues at Bungie are often more subtle.
The reports also mention that problematic individuals ultimately left or were fired – albeit too late, from the perspective of their victims, but at least. Multiple times it is mentioned that men quickly rose through the ranks at Bungie because they were liked by the “old guard,” but then quickly left once they reached the top.
It is said that Bungie has a “clique” problem. To rise, you need to have friends in the company’s inner circle. Because the circle has been predominantly white and male from the beginning, white men have had an easier time advancing in the company. A Black woman states, for example, that she often felt completely invisible in meetings. Her feedback and questions were simply ignored.
Bungie immediately reacts to the report
How does the report react? The head of Bungie issued a statement on Friday about the article, apologizing to anyone who experienced anything other than a “safe, fair, and professional work environment” (via bungie).
It is said that much has been done in recent years, including removing “Bad Actors”, i.e. troublesome individuals.
They claimed to have read the report properly for the first time and are currently digesting it. Parsons believes that anyone who deserved it has already been fired or no longer works for Bungie. If new information comes to light, they will investigate it.
They want to plan better now and set more reasonable release dates that take team health into better account. Therefore, they have postponed Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, and The Witch Queen.
Additionally, they have and will continue to strengthen their efforts to create a diverse and positive work environment.
The report does not name any responsible individuals but explains many problems
This is what it’s about: The problems in the report seem to focus mainly on one department of Destiny, the story team.
The reports explain a variety of problems and decisions in the 7-year history of Destiny and Destiny 2, which seemed puzzling from the outside:
- No one in the report names the narrative leads that are described so poorly, but it is known, for example, that the story lead of Destiny 2 had to be replaced in April 2016 because he unexpectedly left the company after presenting a completely different storyline for Destiny 2 in a livestream in March 2016, of which we heard nothing later.
- Destiny 2 was rebooted. Luke Smith had to take over and was heavily criticized for the final result.
- It is known that the original author of Destiny 1 left the company, and a major rewrite had to take place there as well. This led to Destiny 1’s story being completely under-explained in many places: keyword “No time to explain why I don’t have time to explain.”
- Whether the individuals who left during these reboots are the same people described in the article is not known. Caution should be exercised not to make assumptions about anyone.
The original article from IGN is extremely extensive and deals with a multitude of individual cases and problems. We will address more details of the report in the coming days on MeinMMO.
We have known for years that there were problems in the transition from Destiny 1 to Destiny 2 regarding the story:
Destiny 2 Story: Bungie admits “No idea what the Darkness is”
