Bungie CEO Pete Parsons Is Leaving the Studio After Two Decades Amidst Restructuring

Bungie CEO Pete Parsons is leaving the studio after over two decades at the company. Parsons, who has led Bungie through the release of Destiny 2 and its expansions, Sony acquisition, and subsequent reorganisation efforts, said the time was right for a “new beginning” and announced that Justin Truman would be taking over as the company's new studio head. Truman is Bungie's chief development officer and served as general manager for Destiny 2.

Pete Parsons Steps Down as Bungie CEO

Parsons made the announcement in a blog post on Bungie's website on Thursday and said Truman was the right person to lead the studio forward.

“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.

“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.”

Parsons, a Bungie veteran, joined the studio in 2002 and worked as an executive producer on Halo games.

“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,” he said. “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.”

Truman, the incoming CEO, has been a developer at Bungie for 15 years, working on both Destiny and Destiny 2. He has also been involved with the team at Bungie working on Marathon. The new studio head said he was committed to supporting and working alongside Bungie staff to craft online worlds for players to experience.

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

Bungie's Marathon has been delayed indefinitely
Photo Credit: Bungie

Turmoil at Bungie

Bungie's leadership change follows a period of turmoil. The studio has had several rounds of layoffs and undergone significant restructuring over the past couple of years. Last year, Bungie announced it was laying off 220 employees and making structural changes to cut costs. In a blog post titled “The new path for Bungie” in July 2024, Parsons claimed the company needed “substantial changes” to its cost structure and focus its development efforts "entirely on Destiny and Marathon".

Additionally, Bungie also deepened its integration with Sony, wherein the PlayStation parent absorbed 155 roles at Bungie into Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). Bungie and Sony also announced a new studio within PlayStation Studios to work on an unannounced action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe.

In June this year, Bungie delayed Marathon indefinitely from its planned September 23 launch date following a plagiarism controversy and underwhelming reception to closed alpha playtests.

Sony, which acquired Bungie in 2022 in a deal worth $3.7 billion, also seems to be losing confidence in the studio's ability to function without oversight. In its first-quarter FY 2025 earnings call this month, the PlayStation parent said Bungie's independence was getting “lighter” and the studio was shifting towards becoming more a part of PlayStation Studios following structural changes.