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[Astray]

She might have been on board with going after the money, but did she see the messages? Probably not, but more importantly now her family, friends, coworkers? have all seen the messages too. There's no coming back from that level of humiliation.

Yep unintended consequences are a bitch and a half.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Yeeesh. Guy deffo took it too far, for sure. Mos def should have had a severe talking to in a hr meeting and a written warning.

But losing 45ms over being a horny creep. That's a rough week at the office.

 

[BlackTron]

Yeah, I'm talking legally. Everybodys acting like he raped someone, wtf

I have empathy for the occasional lapse, especially because who knows what really happened or how much the woman is twisting the story. They also have a way of baiting you into the trap (or flat out lying).

But this kind of sustained behavior can't be acceptable at work. Come on.

The text messages imply that the women aren't making up the bigger picture of harassment.

Of course I think it should be thoroughly investigated in a non-biased manner in court. The full context of their conversations will also be relevant.

He isn't facing rape charges. This only came out because he opened a lawsuit over getting fired. I'm skeptical the real reason he got fired is because Sony was looking for an excuse not to pay him, which is the allegation.

Referring to some other comments I think there's a difference between the waitress coworker and subordinate employees in a career position.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I have empathy for the occasional lapse, especially because who knows what really happened or how much the woman is twisting the story. They also have a way of baiting you into the trap (or flat out lying).

But this kind of sustained behavior can't be acceptable at work. Come on.

The text messages imply that the women aren't making up the bigger picture of harassment.

Of course I think it should be thoroughly investigated in a non-biased manner in court. The full context of their conversations will also be relevant.

He isn't facing rape charges. This only came out because he opened a lawsuit over getting fired. I'm skeptical the real reason he got fired is because Sony was looking for an excuse not to pay him, which is the allegation.

Referring to some other comments I think there's a difference between the waitress coworker and subordinate employees in a career position.

Plus this is not a matter of criminal abuse, it’s a matter of corporate compliance. Maybe if there’s big money to be had keep your Willie in your pants while you at work.

 

[CityHunter1981]

Don’t want to defend him, but without knoqing what exactly he do, I cannot really judge it.

Today everything is considered inappropriate. You can’t make a simple compliment anymore. Some people will probably even think it’s wrong to give chocolate at Valentine’s Day to your coworkers…

 

[Klosshufvud]

Nvm

 

[BlackTron]

Don’t want to defend him, but without knoqing what exactly he do, I cannot really judge it.

Today everything is considered inappropriate. You can’t make a simple compliment anymore. Some people will probably even think it’s wrong to give chocolate at Valentine’s Day to your coworkers…

I once worked in a very hands on, creative field doing work that female coworkers found very fascinating, and we would get into conversations about design elements and artistic topics.

One day this woman who had been blowing open such conversations for a week walked in wearing a shirt I thought had a really striking design and I said wow -NICE shirt! She said thank you. Consider the context that we we already talk about art or ideas that we like or dislike, and I felt she would find my opinion validating. That was it. We just went on with our work as normal, and she acted just as interested in what I was doing as ever (which wasn't her responsibility).

The next day I was defending myself to the CEO lol.

 

[Revolutionary]

Proves nothing. Looks aren't everything. She could be a shrew who does nothing in bed and doesn't treat her man well.

I am not justifying his behavior if he was inappropriate, mind you. I'm just saying that having an attractive partner does not mean or prove anything when it comes to the other person cheating or being horny.

She describes herself as "spicy" in her Twitch bio, which is code for bitchy.

 

[Astray]

Yeah, I'm talking legally. Everybodys acting like he raped someone, wtf

This is a civil suit in which he's asking for $200m dollars. Every small thing will be scrutinized to the maximum extent possible.

 

[Danjin44]

Flirting over text is perilous for the cringe meter

Text suppose to be from grown ass man that’s married? I think even a dumb teenager is smart enough not send text like this.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Sony are going to fuck this guy up. Sounds like an absolute moron.

 

[Three]

Sony are going to fuck this guy up. Sounds like an absolute moron.

If he was doing it during work hours yes they would have a strong case, if not then it can go either way I would say. Being a dick doesn't always mean you lose in these cases.

 

[justiceiro]

In that filing, for example, his lawyers state that “behavior that was known at Bungie included:

“A very senior Bungie executive texted Barrett and others sexually suggestive material, including lewd photographs, texts about his sex life (including graphic descriptions of particular sex acts), and texts concerning the appearance of women working for Bungie;

And

Bungie maintained an email channel that shared lewd and semi-pornographic content to the entire studio. Those images were occasionally shared on a projector at studio events;

Hmmm, considering Bungie didn't even tried to deny this claim, I can see how he thought he could freely cross the line. Careful people, toxic environments make you toxic too. Also, company is never in your side, they will happily turn a blind eye to any shit you do until you are not profitable anymore, and use that same shit they ignore to get back at you in any way they can.

 

[simpatico]

Wait, this is the "worst" of it? This is where half assing gets you. This shit is beyond innocent, but he's only fucked because he didn't just go all-in. If you can't even bang subordinates, are we even still in America? It's a literal past time. This guy isn't even in the little leagues with texts like this. smh. I've never lost a job over it, but then again, I can't think of a time I've sent texts like that and not ended up sealing the deal.

I'm with him, Sony is taking advantage of this to pay for Concord.

 

[EviLore]

Text suppose to be from grown ass man that’s married? I think even a dumb teenager is smart enough not send text like this.

To be clear, those are famously from Adam Levine, singer for Maroon 5.

 

[evanft]

He deserved to lose the money for being so fucking cringe.

 

[clarky]

The only thing this dude is guilty of it is being an absolute whopper.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Flirting over text is perilous for the cringe meter

 

[Hudo]

To be clear, those are famously from Adam Levine, singer for Maroon 5.

It's such a low-hanging fruit that I can't not take it:

More like Moron 5.

 

[DeepEnigma]

actual guy... kinda normal looking

 

[kiphalfton]

I once worked in a very hands on, creative field doing work that female coworkers found very fascinating, and we would get into conversations about design elements and artistic topics.

One day this woman who had been blowing open such conversations for a week walked in wearing a shirt I thought had a really striking design and I said wow -NICE shirt! She said thank you. Consider the context that we we already talk about art or ideas that we like or dislike, and I felt she would find my opinion validating. That was it. We just went on with our work as normal, and she acted just as interested in what I was doing as ever (which wasn't her responsibility).

The next day I was defending myself to the CEO lol.

Can't say shit to some female coworkers without them blowing it out of proportion.

I wanted to tell off one of my female coworkers when she was acting like a bitch, but even though she was harassing me for all intents and purposes I would have still likely been the one to get in trouble had I said anything.

Fucking office politics. Makes me hate going to work.

 

[Topher]

The gloves are off in a high-stakes lawsuit involving Sony, Bungie and the veteran Bungie developer Christopher Barrett, who in December sued the gaming giant over what he alleges was a “sham” investigation that led to his firing over alleged misconduct.

In Sony’s first substantive response in the lawsuit, the company is denying Barrett’s claims and leaving zero doubt that it believes the termination last year of Barrett’s 25-year run at Bungie was justified.

To emphasize its position, Sony’s initial answer to Barrett's suit also includes nine text communications between Barrett and female Bungie employees that it claims “reveal his pattern of misconduct.”

In December, Barrett, a long-time senior designer on Destiny and former head of Bungie’s upcoming Marathon project, sued Bungie and its owner Sony for defamation and breach of contract, among other claims, Barrett slammed Bungie’s investigation, denied that he’d committed a fireable offense and accused Sony of letting him go in order to deny him more than $45 million that Barrett was to be paid as a result of Sony’s 2022 purchase of Bungie.

Sony’s new 128-page filing, technically an “answer” to Barrett’s lawsuit, is largely a line-by-line response to the December claim. It was entered into the docket at the Delaware State Court of Chancery last week and has been reviewed by Game File.

The new filing begins with what is essentially a preview of Sony’s pending motion to dismiss six of the seven counts in Barrett’s lawsuit.

The document states that, in Sony’s view, Barrett was terminated last March following HR complaints and an investigation that allegedly revealed a pattern of behavior in which Barrett supposedly…

“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.”

To support this, Sony’s filing includes excerpts of nine written communications—texts, DMs, etc—including the following:

Barrett similarly told VICTIM 3, “I hope [your boyfriend] doesn’t mind I text you a lot” and “I just worry. Like I really enjoy texting you and talking. I don’t want him to get the right idea.” Later in the conversation, when VICTIM 3 told Barrett she was busy, Barrett stated, “I want your attention, so annoying.”

And..

Just three weeks into VICTIM 5’s tenure at Bungie, Barrett called her late in the evening, while drunk, and told her intimate details about his personal life and asked her about who she was dating and what her “type” was. He sent her a personal Instagram follow request to connect that night, which she did not accept.

Barrett’s side is calling foul on the filing, saying the texts are incomplete and don’t amount to a fireable offense.

In a statement to Game File, Barrett’s lawyers blasted Sony’s account. In full:

“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. 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.”

Lawsuits are, of course, different sides of a story, one that may or may not be fully adjudicated in court.

The Barrett story intertwines two major elements of recent game industry history: 1) allegations of workplace misconduct and toxicity that have led to reckonings at companies such as Ubisoft, Riot and Bungie; and 2) a flurry of mergers and acquisitions due to a Covid-lockdown-fueled gaming boom that resulted in some early winners and, as the industry now struggles, a growing number of losers.

Barrett’s argument, per his December lawsuit, is that Sony fired him to spare themselves from paying out what Game File calculates was around $84 million in bonuses he was promised when Sony—charged up by a deal spree that saw Microsoft grabbing Activision and Take Two buying Zynga—purchased Bungie for $3.7 billion.

Both Barrett’s initial filing and Sony’s first response are aggressive. His claim and their answer include the kind of details—or hints of future details—that can be read as pressure for the other side to settle and get the whole affair out of public view.

In his December lawsuit, for example, Barrett wove the story of his time at Bungie and his work on the company’s games with indications that he’d witnessed misconduct elsewhere in the studio.

In that filing, for example, his lawyers state that “behavior that was known at Bungie included:

“A very senior Bungie executive texted Barrett and others sexually suggestive material, including lewd photographs, texts about his sex life (including graphic descriptions of particular sex acts), and texts concerning the appearance of women working for Bungie;

And

Bungie maintained an email channel that shared lewd and semi-pornographic content to the entire studio. Those images were occasionally shared on a projector at studio events;

Sony, which had not commented on the Barrett suit in December, addressed those claims vaguely in its new filing. Lawyers for Sony and Bungie state: “Defendants lack knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations.”

As for the overall claims against him, Barrett’s position is that Sony could not have legitimately fired him for “cause”—and thus withhold his eight-figure Bungie purchase payouts—unless he’d committed specific prohibited acts, such as “engage in any financial improprieties” or “have or solicit any improper sexual relationships with his colleagues.”

In its response, Sony states “Defendants vehemently deny the allegation that Barrett ‘did not engage in any conduct that could be the basis for a finding of “Cause.”’”

The lawsuit is he said / they said, with both sides digging in. TBD on how far this one goes.

Correction - 7:40pm ET: Clarified that Sony’s pending motion to dismiss is for six of the lawsuit’s seven claims, not all seven.

Sony pushes back hard against Bungie veteran's wrongful termination lawsuit

The PlayStation-maker's first substantive response to the headline-making claim includes text messages from fired designer Christopher Barrett. His camp calls them misleading.

www.gamefile.news

 

[nial]

It was too hard to not be a dumbass.

 

[bender]

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/top-director-at-bungie-was-fired-after-misconduct-investigation-bloomberg.1674367/page-5

 

[Klayzer]

Dude's pick up lines, are about to be laughed at.

 

[RoboFu]

But what did she say? I don't see it. I am blind though
And is he just randomly texting her?

 

[LectureMaster]

winjer :
" You are the holy grail"

 

[{insert code here}]

“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

Okay, so just release the full texts yourself then? Easy enough, right?

 

[RoboFu]

Just pulled it up on my laptop where I can actually read it. It does seem he was being creepy. What dumbass to even be in that situation.

 

[Sebastian1295]

This dude is wasting not only his money but also his time with this lawsuit. Sony are going to squash him like a bug in court.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Meh, not worth it to flirt with co-workers if you are paid really well, especially subordinates and especially as a man (although I've worked in more than 1 place where a woman manager got in trouble.) I refuse to even flirt BACK.

To me this is all common sense, and even beyond that has been beaten into me by endless sexual harassment training I've taken yearly for 20 years.

 

[viveks86]

Meh, not worth it to flirt with co-workers if you are paid really well, especially subordinates and especially as a man

For 20 years of training, that’s still a lot of caveats!

On the topic though, I typically wouldn’t cheer for a corporation taking down an individual, but if that evidence is true, he absolutely deserved the firing. And to sue after that? Yeesh. Skin crawling stuff!

 

[bender]

For 20 years of training, that’s still a lot of caveats!

On the topic though, I typically wouldn’t cheer for a corporation taking down an individual, but if that evidence is true, he absolutely deserved the firing. And to sue after that? Yeesh. Skin crawling stuff!

With $45 million on the line, it's worth a shot. He was probably hoping for a settlement and didn't expect Sony to spill the tea.

 

[Hari Seldon]

He is definitely a creep that deserved to be fired, but for $200 million you stop caring about your reputation and roll the dice on how the exact wording of the Sony purchase agreement plays out to a judge. It depends entirely on the wording of that contract.

 

[viveks86]

With $45 million on the line, it's worth a shot. He was probably hoping for a settlement and didn't expect Sony to spill the tea.

I guess. Now with said tea all over his face, he will be permanently blacklisted in the industry. He is probably going to need to get on OnlyFans to make that kinda money.

 

[demigod]

Flirting over text is perilous for the cringe meter

Is that real? Also who is the chick? He ain’t wrong.

 

[IntentionalPun]

For 20 years of training, that’s still a lot of caveats!

On the topic though, I typically wouldn’t cheer for a corporation taking down an individual, but if that evidence is true, he absolutely deserved the firing. And to sue after that? Yeesh. Skin crawling stuff!

LOL

Well for me personally I just don't do it, but then again, I'm well paid :lol

Just not trying to tell everyone working retail or in fast food how to live their life lol

 

[viveks86]

LOL

Well for me personally I just don't do it, but then again, I'm well paid :lol

Just not trying to tell everyone working retail or in fast food how to live their life lol

What about the days you feel like they aren’t paying you enough?

 

[BlackTron]

He is probably going to need to get on OnlyFans to make that kinda money.

Maybe if he puts his wife on OnlyFans