A major shakeup happened overnight at Bungie, the makers of popular first-person shooter Destiny. The company’s longtime president, Harold Ryan, has stepped down and will be exiting the company entirely. In response Pete Parsons has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Bungie.
Pete Parsons is a Bungie veteran from the Halo days. He worked on every Bungie developed Halo game in some capacity, moving from Studio Management to Executive Producer, to Director of Marketing, and finally to Chief Operating Officer during Halo: Reach and Destiny.
In a short statement Parsons said, “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. ”
There was no statement from Ryan, indicating that the split might not have been amicable between those involved. Bungie has been riding high off the success of Destiny ever since it launched back in 2014, however many have questioned the company’s actions surrounding the game, and the support it has received after launch.
Destiny famously released in a very odd shape, with a story that didn’t come close to delivering on the epic space opera that Bungie had promised. Rumors swirled about behind-the-scenes issues, with Activision possibly pushing the company to release Destiny on time.
Even after the game was out, Bungie seemed to have trouble supporting it with proper updates and DLC. Recent rumors have pointed to a possible delay of Destiny 2 as well, so what exactly is going on at Bungie has been a hot topic of debate. This latest move could be a righting of the ship, or it could be further evidence of problems within the company. We’ll just have to wait and see how things shape out.
