Bungie's New CEO is Pete Parsons
By Kyle Sledge 26 January 2016
According to an official announcement from developer Bungie, the studio’s former Chief Operating Officer, Pete Parsons, is now its Chief Executive Officer.
Bungie‘s Board of Directors has officially appointed Pete Parsons as the Destiny developer’s new Chief Executive Officer, with Harold Ryan stepping down from the position as the company’s President. As of writing, Activision, Destiny‘s publisher and partner in the studio’s 10 year distribution deal, has shared no comment on the situation.
Parsons has been with Bungie for quite some time, as he jumped ship from Microsoft to join the developer in 2002 as an executive producer and studio manager, and he began serving as the company’s Chief Operating Officer in 2008. It was after working on both Halo 2 and Halo 3 that Bungie’s now-CEO became a part of the studio to help it become an independent developer.
The changing of the guard at Bungie comes amid rumors of Destiny 2 getting delayed from its planned September 2016 release, in addition to many fans of the sci-fi shooter being upset due to a dearth of fresh content being pushed out for the release. As it happens, popular gamer TripleWRECK recently made a video sharing his frustrations on the problems that he and die-hard fans of the game have been facing.
While Parsons provides no clear-cut answers as to what’s in store for the future of Destiny and Bungie at large, he does graciously thank his precursor in Harold Ryan. The official statement from Parsons regarding the duty of fulfilling the position as Bungie’s CEO can be read below.
“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.”
Due to the fact that Parsons has a preternatural understanding of the technical side of Destiny, as well as an obvious enthusiasm for the game, it’s quite possible that his leadership at Bungie could turn things around. Hopefully, his installation as the studio’s CEO will help generate a more open and communicative environment in order to avoid situations like its developers blatantly misleading players about implementing skill-based matchmaking.
What do you think about Pete Parsons taking over as Bungie’s CEO? Do you believe his track record with the company will help restore Destiny to its former glory? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Bungie‘s most recent release is the action-MMO, Destiny: The Taken King, which is available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: Bungie (via Game Informer)
