Here's to Harold Ryan

I think, whether Bungie officially says something explicitly or not, that's pretty definitive. :)

(It's currently public; if that changes, I apologize in advance for posting non-public Facebook links.)

This bothers me more than it probably should. As a former tester, I've always assumed Bungie's current overlords simply didn't respect the test team enough to listen to their complaints, but if Ryan came up through Test, that seems unlikely. I wonder if their entire corporate structure simply isn't designed to foster constant communication. That would explain the general complaints about Bungie's communication to the outside world: If the corporate culture is to compartmentalize and not to share, then the people who do any sharing at all probably feel like they're amazing share-gods by comparison.

That would explain things, but it's the exact opposite of the Bungie we saw in the Halo days. I remember their vidocs talking about knocking out walls in a studio they moved to, and putting the desks on wheels or something because people were constantly shuffling around to work on different things. That doesn't sound like a company with bad communication.

Then again, that was like a decade ago, so maybe their culture has shifted more than I'd want to believe.

Yeah, I agree. Up until Destiny, I've always considered Bungie one of the best run, most open communicating companies I'd ever heard of.

This bothers me more than it probably should. As a former tester, I've always assumed Bungie's current overlords simply didn't respect the test team enough to listen to their complaints, but if Ryan came up through Test, that seems unlikely. I wonder if their entire corporate structure simply isn't designed to foster constant communication. That would explain the general complaints about Bungie's communication to the outside world: If the corporate culture is to compartmentalize and not to share, then the people who do any sharing at all probably feel like they're amazing share-gods by comparison.

That would explain things, but it's the exact opposite of the Bungie we saw in the Halo days. I remember their vidocs talking about knocking out walls in a studio they moved to, and putting the desks on wheels or something because people were constantly shuffling around to work on different things. That doesn't sound like a company with bad communication.

Then again, that was like a decade ago, so maybe their culture has shifted more than I'd want to believe.

I'm not sure VR is a place for his talents to shine as brightly as they did with Bungie, but hopefully he is happy with what he is doing. :)

I'm not sure either, but Golem does seem like one of the most interesting announced VR games right now.

Seriously, either test is incompetent (unlikely), they're not respected (likely) enough to be listened to (unlikely), or there's a fundamental flaw in the way bugs are prioritized and delivered to the devs (extremely likely).

New leadership can help this, if it chooses to. Let's hope it does. I've been worried about Bungie since Staten left. Love that guy.

Gaming press is already jumping to the conclusion that Ryan is leaving, even though Parson's statement never actually says that. I was trying to comment on Polygon's story to that effect, but comments aren't loading for me.

The statement says he's stepping down as President, and clearly he's not going to be CEO any more (since Parsons is taking that position) - I guess it doesn't say he's leaving, but if he stays it's going to be in a lesser position.

I'm not sure VR is a place for his talents to shine as brightly as they did with Bungie, but hopefully he is happy with what he is doing. :)

Ryan's rise through test to President and CEO always seemed meteoric to me. Was he also running test all this time? If so, does he continue to do that? Is this to pave the way for a reconciliation with O'Donnell, since he seemed to blame Ryan personally for his firing and the attempt to take away his stock-- so much so that he sued him personally? If so, that would seem to indicate that he is leaving.

Today, Bungie’s Board of Directors announced that it has appointed Pete Parsons to the role of Chief Executive Officer, and that Harold Ryan will be stepping down from his position as studio President. As CEO, Parsons will be tasked with leading the talented Bungie team as they continue to develop great Destiny experiences.

Here are a few words from Pete:

I want to personally thank Harold for his friendship, passion, hard work, and dedication in helping make Bungie the great company it is today. As a team, we celebrated many victories and weathered many storms.

To the players of Destiny, I want you to know that my number one priority, and Bungie’s, is and always has been to deliver great games that we can all share together. I believe that Destiny is a one-of-a-kind experience. I also believe you have yet to see our studio’s best work. My new role here at the studio will be entirely focused on fulfilling that promise.

This is yet another new beginning, and a new challenge for our studio. We remain committed to creating great experiences in Destiny.