The Battle for Bungie's Soul: Inside the Studio's Struggle for a Better Work Culture

I hate to just drop the link without comment, but I don’t currently have time to really say anything. It’s not exactly a secret that Bungie has been a pretty bad place to work in the past, and they’ve done a lot to change public perception. Whether that perception is accurate now seems to be in question. It does seem like they are genuinely trying to be better, however small the steps may be.

Curse of Osiris' story had been lambasted on Reddit, with a few female narrative team members being singled out by the community for harassment, death threats, and vitriol. Our sources say these women didn't receive support inside the studio or from the community team for what they were going through, and multiple sources were aware of one member of leadership still at the studio who emailed Reddit comments about these women to other company leaders in a seeming bid to tear down the narrative team because players didn't like the story.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that even on the internet, your words can hurt. I've certainly made my fair share of criticism towards the story that was not in the best of tones. This is one of those articles that really hits you. Reading this really left an impression. I hope Bungie can sort it out, but I can at least sort myself out and try to be better.

It's worth reading the whole article. Some shit is just as bad as Blizzard. It's all so disheartening. Thank you Cookie Hiponia and others who shared.

https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/50895

First, I want to apologize to anyone who has ever experienced anything less than a safe, fair, and professional working environment at Bungie. I am not here to refute or to challenge the experiences we're seeing shared today by people who have graced our studio with their time and talent. Our actions or, in some cases, inactions, caused these people pain. I apologize personally and on behalf of everyone at Bungie who I know feels a deep sense of empathy and sadness reading through these accounts.

Over the last several years, we have worked to make significant changes at Bungie:

• We have removed bad actors from our studio without respect to their tenure, seniority, or interpersonal relationships – an action we can take only when brave people come forward or when bad behavior is conducted out in the open. We have not always been transparent about what led to their removal or as swift as we should have been, but we will not tolerate toxic behavior from anyone. Being a “rockstar” is no excuse, no matter how celebrated someone’s track record is.
  
• We are now reading and digesting the full story for the first time today. We believe the people whose behavior warranted removal from our company have been terminated or are no longer working for Bungie, but if new information comes to light – whether through this story or by named or anonymous people coming forward – we will act on that information and investigate with integrity.
  
• We have focused on better planning and more reasonable release dates, including the recent delays of Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, and The Witch Queen to prioritize team health, while still delivering the quality and polish our community expects.
  
• We have reconstituted and invested in our efforts toward a stronger inclusion, diversity, and equity approach at Bungie, driven in part by the ongoing conversations from our own people and the stories surfacing in our industry. These efforts include the reformation of the Bungie Diversity Committee, the creation of several new employee-led inclusion clubs, such as Black@Bungie, Women@Bungie, Trans@Bungie, and Accessibility@Bungie (with more on the way), along with the hiring of dedicated and highly respected leaders to better support our clubs, our people, and to focus on inclusion, diversity, and equity at Bungie.
  
• In 2021, we started to conduct reviews of our hiring, compensation, and promotion practices. This includes a compensation audit conducted by a third party to identify and address potential inequities. We are continuing to examine and redesign our people systems and processes to correct unintentional outcomes and ensure inequity cannot be built into a murky system.
  
• Since 2018, we’ve been tracking our team composition and sharing the numbers openly with everyone at our studio. Today, I'd like to share our progress with you
  • Over the past five years, we have increased the number of employees who identify as women and people from underrepresented communities now at Bungie to 20.5% and 18.6% of the company, respectively.
    
  • In 2021, 31% and 23% of our total hires are employees who identify as women and people from underrepresented communities, respectively.
    
  • At the leadership level, 22.5% and 20% of our leaders identify as women or people from underrepresented communities, respectively. The leadership level at Bungie is defined as decision makers who have serious impact on the overall success of major initiatives, who are responsible for the impact and careers of entire departments of people, and who drive the long-term success of the studio.
    
  • Today, women or people from underrepresented communities comprise 50% of Bungie’s board of directors. In addition, 40% of Bungie’s executive team are women or people from underrepresented communities.
    
  • This past September, we published an update covering our recent and planned inclusion, diversity, and equity efforts, which includes the removal of the mandatory arbitration clause for current and future employees.
    
  • You can read our full September report on Bungie.net, and we will continue sharing more updates in the future. While we are far from where we want to be, we are encouraged by the positive trend we are seeing to hire more diverse talent from around the world, especially among those just beginning their journey in the gaming industry. This work is ongoing and demands vigilance to ensure continual improvement.

I’m heartened by the progress we have made, but it is not enough, and it has taken too long. It also does not sweep away the bad experiences people have had at our studio.

As CEO, it is my job to factor both the past and the future and be accountable for all of it, here and now. Speaking with the team at Bungie, reading the stories, and seeing both known and newly surfaced accounts, it is clear we still have work ahead of us.

I am committed to it. We are not yet the studio we have the potential to become, but we are on our way. And we will not rest or slow these efforts because we recognize that the journey of inclusivity, diversity, and equity is, in itself, the destination we all strive towards. This is critical to achieving our vision and fulfilling the potential of the welcoming, equitable home of creative and technical excellence Bungie should be.

The phrase, “Boldly, to the stars” has fueled our creative engine since the beginning. We take this same spirit of hope and improvement to the crucial human work in front of us. Our current and future actions around the care of our people will define Bungie's future and is our most important purpose. We are grateful and humbled to continue this work and are energized by the journey ahead.

-pete

I see nothing about no longer letting the Chinese and Russian markets dictate LGBT inclusion in game… Of course with the Netease deal I'm not encouraged there.