The developer alleges the companies "falsely [destroyed] his reputation."
Chris Barrett, the former reboot director for Marathon, has filed a lawsuit against both Sony and Bungie. Barret alleges the duo of "deliberately destroyed [his] reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating they had 'investigated' Barrett and 'found' he had engaged in sexual misconduct." He also goes on to state that Sony and Bungie did this in an effort to also avoid paying him $45 million that he was owed.
In the suit, Barrett further alleges that all of the accusations levied against him were completely unfounded and never even investigated by Sony. This included claims of sending sexually inappropriate messages, taking retaliatory actions against a co-worker for rebuffing sexual advances, and sex-based discrimination against female co-workers. Here's a bit more from the lawsuit:
They then completed the Machiavellian trifecta by providing wildly misleading statements to Bloomberg designed to: (i) deflect blame for Sony's poorly performing $3.6 Billion acquisition of Bungie and delays in video game production by casting shade on Barrett for his role on Marathon and (ii) shift blame for their own public #MeToo problems by falsely insinuating that the accusations of severe misconduct had been directed at Barrett, when they had not.
At the time of this writing, neither Sony nor Bungie have commented on the lawsuit. Barret's claims are certainly rather alarming if they turn out to be true. While the #MeToo movement helped to shine a light on harmful behavior and practices within the video game industry, it has also been a period where those who have been accused were often punished before even stepping foot inside of a courtroom.
As a result of Sony and Bungie's actions, Barrett asserts that his reputation has been irrevocably harmed and that his dreams of founding his own studio have been dashed. Barrett has also experienced strain within the relationships with his friends and family, as well as public ridicule owing to the claims made against him. We'll continue to update as we learn more about the case.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz