Halo Composer Wins Bungie Suit

Erttheking

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Well, that'll keep him afloat for around a year I say. Plenty of time for him to find new work. I mean He's freaking marty! Studios are going to be fighting over him. (At least they SHOULD!)
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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lacktheknack said:
And here I was, 100% sure that some smart aleck fan had sent him a full suit of bungee gear.

Real life is less awesome than what I want it to be.

...Oh yeah, and good for him. I guess.
I really wish your version was the real version of events.
 

MrDumpkins

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Sep 20, 2010
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Good to see him win, if it's only 100k then he obviously just wanted wanted what his contract stated, he never said anything bad about bungie for firing him. He just wanted what was legally his.

Whoever ends up employing him in the future I'll look out for, he does great work. His music is the best part about halo.
 

BarbaricGoose

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O'Donnell's music is one of the bigger reasons ODST stands as my favorite Halo game.

I'm glad he got what he was owed. Hopefully he'll move on to some new & exciting ventures.
 

fix-the-spade

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lacktheknack said:
No... they fired him for and then refused to pay him his severance package. Stack on "double damages" and legal fees and the total was about $95k. The original amount was probably in the $30ks.
Your avatar, I despise it to the core.

#ahem#

Anyway, I suppose you're right, although based on past form I assume that Activision is leaning on people to make sure that anyone with a favourable bonus agreement is out of Bungie before Destiny releases. That way even if they get sued they can claim that release milestone and sales bonuses aren't owed to anyone.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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Huh, I'll have to keep this precedent in mind for the next time I get "let go on friendly terms" before I have a chance to use my vacation days and such. :p
 

TorchofThanatos

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Chairman Miaow said:
MercurySteam said:
Martin O'Donnell's music essentially defined the Halo games, so if Bungie screwed him over then he damn well deserves compensation. Good on him.
Pretty much this. The music is the one thing that sticks in my head more than anything. The balance of the game was terrible (Super pistols anyone? In every game only one normal weapon is really viable), Story was derivative and only got worse, characters were fairly non-existent and the world was completely unoriginal as well.
See here is my issue. You want to know why the story got worse? It is because Marty took more control over it. Halo 3 and Reach's story had to go through Marty. He wanted everyone to die. Want to know why the Master Chief has no character because Marty wouldn't let them add any. It would break the illusion that under the helmet was our face. He may have been a great composer but I am glade that he is gone.
 

Chairman Miaow

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Nov 18, 2009
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TorchofThanatos said:
Chairman Miaow said:
MercurySteam said:
Martin O'Donnell's music essentially defined the Halo games, so if Bungie screwed him over then he damn well deserves compensation. Good on him.
Pretty much this. The music is the one thing that sticks in my head more than anything. The balance of the game was terrible (Super pistols anyone? In every game only one normal weapon is really viable), Story was derivative and only got worse, characters were fairly non-existent and the world was completely unoriginal as well.
See here is my issue. You want to know why the story got worse? It is because Marty took more control over it. Halo 3 and Reach's story had to go through Marty. He wanted everyone to die. Want to know why the Master Chief has no character because Marty wouldn't let them add any. It would break the illusion that under the helmet was our face. He may have been a great composer but I am glade that he is gone.
Didn't realise he had any influence beyond the music.
 

Roxas1359

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Aug 8, 2009
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TorchofThanatos said:
See here is my issue. You want to know why the story got worse? It is because Marty took more control over it. Halo 3 and Reach's story had to go through Marty. He wanted everyone to die. Want to know why the Master Chief has no character because Marty wouldn't let them add any. It would break the illusion that under the helmet was our face. He may have been a great composer but I am glade that he is gone.
I would like to see a news story link or links from developers on those games proving this, because that seems very hard to believe honestly. And if it turns out to be true, then that means that the Executive Producers, and the Directors of those games had no balls to stand up to the Composer when it came to making a game, showing that they could be easily walked all over by their other workers.
 

TorchofThanatos

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Neronium said:
TorchofThanatos said:
See here is my issue. You want to know why the story got worse? It is because Marty took more control over it. Halo 3 and Reach's story had to go through Marty. He wanted everyone to die. Want to know why the Master Chief has no character because Marty wouldn't let them add any. It would break the illusion that under the helmet was our face. He may have been a great composer but I am glade that he is gone.
I would like to see a news story link or links from developers on those games proving this, because that seems very hard to believe honestly. And if it turns out to be true, then that means that the Executive Producers, and the Directors of those games had no balls to stand up to the Composer when it came to making a game, showing that they could be easily walked all over by their other workers.
You can find it when you watch the behind the scenes stuff on the special editions. He talks about how the game didn't have emotional weight behind it so he decide it would be better to kill off Johnson and the female captain (who I can't remember her name) at the end of Halo 3. He says something similar in Reach's behind the scene thing too. I am assuming that Marty tired to walk over someone again and that is why he got fired but that is pure guess work and some behind the scenes interviews isn't great evidence. I do have a friend who has talked to some bungie guys and they didn't like him but again that is most here-say. The Executive Producers and Directors should have grown a pair but them firing him and making him seem like the hero was not a good choice. Either was Marty was a great Composer but also someone that liked to over step his bounds. There is more to him being fired but no one is saying anything. The whole thing is very weird and overly secretive leading me just to guess the worse.
 

MrHide-Patten

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That's the first thing that hit me about the Destiny Beta, the nice orchestral score, and then to be reminded of the fact they laid this guy off and hang a depressing note over the rest of the experience. Games alright with buddies, but somebody at Bungie is a huge dick.
 

Ylla

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-Dragmire- said:
You know, when someone says that they let someone go on, "friendly terms", that just seems to mean that they were smiling as they kicked that person out the door.
Its worst than that, he was never kicked, one day he came back to work and found he was fired, even the people who was supposed to kick him out were surprised.
It seems like the blame is totally on Harold Ryan, although nobody is quite sure, it was quite sad to visit the Bungie forums that day, everyone was like "its Bungie's fault", and Bungie people were like "We didnt even knew".
Oddest thing of it, LEGALLY HE STILL OWNS A PART OF BUNGIE STUDIOS.... Also the entire sound department was built by him, he hired all the workers. So wtf?