Bungie has been the center of several controversies lately, and last week, it was accused of using stolen art assets in its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. While Bungie has responded to the accusations–saying that a former artist was responsible and that it was investigating further–there have also been recent allegations that the studio’s work culture has become tainted by toxic leadership.
Speaker to former IGN editor Destin Legarie–who now runs the independent games coverage channel Save State Plus–former Bungie employees spoke out about the state of the studio, claiming that leaders were quick to shut down ideas and would publicly berate staff. It’s also claimed that Bungie’s leadership brought up the idea of adding a subscription service to Destiny, but this idea was strongly rejected by the developers.
Another example of the corporate culture at Bungie was that the studio’s management allegedly expressed concerns over armor sets that could be earned in Destiny 2’s PvP mode Trials of Osiris, because its design looked too good and could „impact“ sales of cosmetic DLC.