Bungie apologizes after report highlights racist & sexist workplace culture BungieBungie has apologized after a recent IGN report highlighted historic allegations of racism and sexism at the studio. Described as a \u201ctoxic workplace\u201d which \u201ccultivated a pervasive atmosphere in which women were inferior,\u201d the studio behind Destiny 2 has promised to make more changes to stamp out the culture. In the wake of Activision Blizzard\u2019s scandal-filled 2021 with multiple allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation, Bungie is the latest studio to come under fire. Bungie\u2019s workplace culture was exposed in a December 10 report by IGN. The report primarily focused on the narrative team on Destiny 2, but touched on issues within all divisions at the company. While the article didn\u2019t name specific high-level developers at Bungie, numerous examples of racist and sexist behavior at the studio were highlighted, spanning years. This included sexual comments and harassment which \u201ccultivated a pervasive atmosphere in which women were inferior.\u201d \u201cWomen were disproportionately talked over in meetings, had their ability to do their jobs questioned, had their ideas ignored and then used by men who later took credit for them, or simply had their questions or input dismissed,\u201d the report stated. \u201cSeveral recounted stories of managers and leads making racist remarks or even using slurs to refer to more diverse Destiny characters or, in at least one instance, an individual at the studio. \u201cSeveral employees also witnessed discrimination against transgender individuals at the studio, including questions about which bathrooms they were using, refusal to use correct pronouns, and other inappropriate questions.\u201d However, the report noted Bungie had made in-roads into trying to fix its \u201ctoxic workplace culture.\u201d This included creating a Diversity and Inclusivity committee, as well as giving employees anonymous internal methods to ask questions about the company\u2019s practices. This was echoed by Pete Parsons, Bungie\u2019s CEO, in a December 10 statement released shortly after the IGN article. Parsons said \u201cover the last several years, we have worked to make significant changes.\u201d He did not dismiss IGN\u2019s report and apologized to \u201canyone who has ever experienced anything less than a safe, fair, and professional working environment at Bungie.\u201d A message from Bungie\u2019s CEO, Pete Parsons.https:\/\/t.co\/LsBrYmZCyU pic.twitter.com\/nYmGXuEt1p \u2014 Bungie (@Bungie) December 10, 2021 \u201cI am not here to refute or to challenge the experiences we\u2019re 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,\u201d he said. \u201cI apologize personally and on behalf of everyone at Bungie who I know feels a deep sense of empathy and sadness reading through these accounts.\u201d Parsons\u2019 statement claimed Bungie increased the amount of \u201cwomen and people from underrepresented communities\u201d hired since 2018, with minority groups now making up 39% of Bungie\u2019s workforce. This includes 42.5% at a leadership level. He also said \u201cwe have removed bad actors from our studio without respect to their tenure, seniority, or interpersonal relationships,\u201d and promised to take more action as new allegations come out in light of the report. \u201cI\u2019m 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,\u201d Parsons admitted. \u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bungie apologizes after report highlights racist & sexist workplace culture BungieBungie has apologized after a recent IGN report highlighted historic allegations of racism and sexism at the studio. Described as a \u201ctoxic workplace\u201d which \u201ccultivated a pervasive atmosphere in which women were inferior,\u201d the studio behind Destiny 2 has promised to make more changes to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}