Halo, Destiny composer Marty O’Donnell wins lawsuit against former employer Bungie

By Kris Wouk Published September 7, 2015

Last year we reported that longtime Bungie composer Marty O’Donnell, who provided the iconic Halo theme as well as much of the score to Destiny, had been “terminated without cause.” The circumstances around the firing were hazy, but following the termination O’Donnell sued both Bungie and its CEO Harold Ryan.

O’Donnell won the lawsuit against Ryan for unpaid wages in July, and on Friday a court-appointed arbitrator ruled that Bungie must give O’Donnell shares in the company he worked with for so long. In addition to providing some closure to the year-long battle between O’Donnell and his former employer, the ruling also brings the issues between the two out into the open.

Recommended Videos

While Destiny was only released in 2014, the contract between Bungie and publisher Activision for a five-part franchise was signed in 2010. O’Donnell was tasked with composing music for “every application” of the franchise, according to VentureBeat. Rather than write music for each game as it was developed, Bungie COO Pete Parsons asked O’Donnell to create all of the music for the franchise at once, a work dubbed Music of the Spheres.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

O’Donnell, who is justly proud of this music, which features collaborations with Paul McCartney, wanted to release Music of the Spheres as a standalone release, but Bungie had little interest in this. A further slight arose when Activision supplied its own music for the Destiny E3 2013 trailer. O’Donnell tweeted during the presentation that the music was not his and attempted to keep the trailer from being posted online.

This and further disagreements lead to Ryan suggesting that O’Donnell be fired. He was instead given a negative performance review and told that his behavior was “unacceptable.” While O’Donnell returned to work on music and sound design for Destiny, members of the team said he wasn’t contributing enough, and Ryan again suggested that he be fired. This time O’Donnell was fired, and five months later, Destiny shipped, albeit a year late.

Earlier this year O’Donnell founded his own game studio, Highwire Games, which he can now fully focus on with the lawsuits out of the way. “I’m happy this is over, and I’m ready to move on,” he said in an interview with GamesBeat.

Meanwhile Bungie and its CEO are surely relieved to have things settled with O’Donnell. Destiny: The Taken King, the latest expansion for the massively multiplayer shooter, launches on September 15.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Branded Content

Dashlane simplifies digital credential management for people, teams and businesses

Dashlane credential management tool for teams featured image

Have you ever considered a credential management tool for your team or business? Allow me to explain. When it comes to digital and online safety, something you hear often is never to share your credentials, account details, or passwords with anyone. You're not supposed to share account details or passwords, even with people you know well. That's not necessarily because they can't be trusted, it's more that you never know how someone else will handle your sensitive information. If they stow it somewhere easily accessible, like in a plain text document on their desktop, it weakens your security and makes your accounts more vulnerable. Plus, there’s no telling who they’ll share that information with.

Keeping your logins to yourself is also how you’re advised to protect professional or business accounts in the workplace. But it makes things more difficult, especially when you’re working with a team. Sometimes, you need tool or platform logins to be available to everyone. There is a much better way to administrate password sharing, and most importantly, it doesn’t compromise security. The answer is a digital credential management tool like Dashlane.

Branded Content

Thanks to Squarespace Refresh website building has never been more intuitive

squarespace refresh makes web building intuitive featured image

When it comes to building and designing your own website, from scratch, there is a lot of trial and error involved. Believe me, I've been there. But what's more important as an entrepreneur and when you're trying to present your business, big or small, is that the presentation has to be decidedly professional. It needs to be attractive and user-friendly, with easy access to everything that's most important for your business. Whether that's a section to browse available products, checkout, learn more about you and the team, or something else entirely. It's a lot of work and requires a lot of time invested. It's so much easier to have a templatized and convenient builder handy.

That's precisely where you can turn to something like Squarespace, which makes it so much easier to build the website of your dreams. But even more exciting is Squarespace's 2024 Refresh announcement. A product showcase, the brand says it creates a "new era for entrepreneurs." From new design tools with AI-powered features to enhanced business solutions to bring your business websites to the next level, the goal is to elevate your experiences and those of your visitors or customers. Let's take a closer look.

Computing

The 10 best VPN services for 2024, reviewed by experts

Surfshark VPN on Mac protecting user data.

You rely on the internet to stay connected to friends, family, and coworkers, monitor the news, shop, pay bills, and more. That makes privacy and security more important than ever, and a virtual private network (VPN) is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways to hide your location and safeguard your online activities from unwanted network intruders.

But if you're having trouble choosing the right VPN service for your budget and security needs, don't worry: We can help. Below, you'll find a list of the best VPNs around. Our comprehensive guide to the best VPN services covers pricing, features, and all the information you need to make an informed decision.