Bungie CEO Pete Parsons is out, new studio head steps up with Destiny 2 flailing, Marathon in limbo, and the eye of Sony burning

Bungie CEO Pete Partons is retiring from his position and new studio head Justin Truman, a Bungie and Destiny veteran of 15 years, is stepping up to the plate.

The studio announced the passing of the torch in a new blog post on its website. A post from the studio's Bluesky account reads: "We are proud to announce that Justin Truman will be stepping up as Bungie's new Studio Head as Pete Parsons retires from his position to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders."

Parsons, who joined Bungie over 20 years ago when the studio was still shepherd of the Halo series, became studio leader in 2015. "My goal was to grow us into a studio capable of creating and sustaining iconic, generation-spanning entertainment," Parsons says.

"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," he adds.

In 2019, Parsons laid out ambitious plans for Bungie to become a multi-franchise studio by 2025. Destiny 2 remains the studio's biggest and only golden goose, with some other projects reportedly canceled in recent years and extraction shooter Marathon officially delayed to an unknown date. Upcoming mobile spinoff Destiny Rising is in the works at a separate developer, NetEase.

Marathon's woes grew after a plagiarism scandal, the fourth such case at Destiny-era Bungie, saw the studio rush to remove stolen art from the game.

When Sony acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion, the studio was given clear independence, even if Sony was openly eager to apply the Destiny maker's live service expertise to PlayStation Studios in some capacity. Sony is a bit cooler on its once-feverish live service plans today, a bit blunted by stumbles like Concord, but is still investing heavily in the space.

Following the one-two punch of Marathon's delay and a tepid launch for Destiny 2 expansion The Edge of Fate, Sony has said Bungie's "independence is getting lighter" as the company moves to get Marathon out the door.

Parsons faced criticism last year after Bungie saw multiple waves of heavy layoffs amid less-than-stellar returns from Destiny 2 releases. Destiny fans, in particular, latched onto reports citing auction receipts indicating the CEO had recently spent several million dollars on vintage cars.

In 2024, alongside layoffs that affected 220 people, Parsons laid out a "new path for Bungie" and admitted plans for Destiny and Marathon "were overly ambitious, our financial safety margins were subsequently exceeded, and we began running in the red." A further 155 roles were absorbed by Sony.

In today's post, Parsons hands the baton off to Truman, saying "he has been instrumental in bringing some of the most memorable moments in Bungie's history to life. He lives and breathes this studio, and I have full confidence that he is the right person to lead Bungie forward."

For his part, Truman – who's been an engineer, producer, and general manager for Destiny, and chief development officer for Bungie – recommits to the studio's mission: "We create worlds that inspire friendship."

He also owns up to being "part of these efforts at Bungie when we've maybe not been at our best. When we've stumbled and realized through listening to our community that we had missed the mark. I know I've personally learned a lot over the years, as have all of us here, from those conversations."

In his new role as studio head, Truman says "I am committed to supporting and working alongside every member of the team here as we continue pouring our hearts and souls into these worlds. Worlds that we love, and that we hope have been worth your time and your passion. Because ultimately those worlds only exist, and thrive, with you in them.

"We are hard at work right now doing that – both with Marathon and Destiny. We're currently heads down, but we'll have more to show you in both of these worlds later this year."

Almost 11 years since launching Destiny 1, former Bungie CEO says live service isn't right for all games: "It's pretty clear that we can't just pick a business model and say that's a reason to make a game."