Bungie CEO Pete Parsons retires: With Destiny 2 sentiment at an all-time low and pressure from Sony growing, Parsons has decided it's time to 'pass the torch' and head for an exit

Longtime Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced today that he is stepping down from the role, saying it's "the right time for a new beginning" at the Sony-owned studio. He will be replaced by Justin Truman, formerly the studio's chief development officer, who Parsons said "has been instrumental in bringing some of the most memorable moments in Bungie's history to life."

Parsons had a long career at Bungie, beginning in 2003 while it was still a part of Microsoft. He rose through the executive ranks over the years, helping shepherd both the Halo and Destiny franchises, before assuming the CEO role in 2016. But three years after helping to secure Sony's acquisition of Bungie for $3.6 billion, he's pulling the ripcord on his time at the studio.

"After more than two decades of helping build this incredible studio, establishing the Bungie Foundation, and growing inspiring communities around our work, I have decided to pass the torch," Parsons wrote. "This journey has been the honor of a lifetime. I am deeply proud of the worlds we've built together and the millions of players who call them home—and most of all I am privileged by the opportunity to work alongside the incredible minds at Bungie.

"When I was asked to lead Bungie in 2015, my goal was to grow us into a studio capable of creating and sustaining iconic, generation-spanning entertainment. We've been through so much together: we launched a bold new chapter for Destiny, built an enviable, independent live ops organization capable of creating and publishing its own games, and joined the incredible family at Sony Interactive Entertainment.

"Today marks the right time for a new beginning. The future of Bungie will be in the hands of a new generation of leaders, and I am thrilled to announce that Justin Truman will be stepping into leadership as Bungie's new Studio Head."

It's all very boilerplate, as these valedictory messages tend to be, but the truth is that the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Destiny 2 is struggling, Marathon is in serious trouble before it's even out, and Parsons himself is riding low after leading Bungie through massive layoffs while allegedly spending literally millions of his own dollars on a vintage car collection. We said earlier this month that Parsons could be looking for an exit following Sony's declaration that Bungie's days of operating as an independent entity are coming to an end and, well, here we are. That looming integration into the Sony machine may also be reflected in Truman's new position, which is Studio Head, rather than Parsons' old CEO role.

No need to feel too bad for Parsons, though, as he'll be moving on with his bank account, which—much like his garage—will be pleasingly full thanks to the stock he will have presumably owned before Sony's $3.6 billion buyout. It's not known how much he took home from the Sony acquisition, but just for context, Christopher Barrett, a former game director at Bungie—subordinate to Parsons, in other words—was due to earn more than $80 million from the buyout before he was fired. Parsons will surely have made much more.

The Destiny community certainly has some feelings about Parsons' farewell:

Truman comes into the new position facing challenges as well: In a GDC 2023 talk, he warned against the dangers of "over-delivery" in a live service game, because—simply put—setting too high a standard will result in upset players if you're able to meet that same standard in subsequent updates or expansions.

The talk, which PC Gamer was present for, actually makes sense in the full context—particualry regarding avoiding developer burnout when working on live service games, which are essentially like building a plane as you fly it.

As you might imagine, though, it wasn't a popular sentiment among Destiny 2 fans, and they're not ready to let it go.

Comment from r/DestinyTheGame

That's not entirely fair, perhaps, but an understandable emotion given the ugliness of Bungie's flailing in recent years: In 2024, as 220 employees were put out of work, Parsons acknowledged the studio had been pouring resources into "several incubation projects, each seeded with senior development leaders from our existing teams," which ultimately stretched the studio too thin, damaging both Destiny 2 and Marathon.

Truman has a hard job ahead. Destiny 2's latest expansion was received terribly—Tim wondered if the game can survive it—and Marathon was recently delayed, with no new release date set, as Bungie seemingly returns to the drawing board.