Halo & Destiny Composer Says He was Fired by Bungie "Without Cause"

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Cyrromatic said:
What madness is this? I bet even my grandmother would recognize the first tunes of the Halo soundtrack at this point. Hopefully we get some sort of explanation, as ludicrous as it may be.
I'm always skeptical of these "for no reasons" claims, because half the time it turns out the people involved were doing something heinous.
 

Roxas1359

Burn, Burn it All!
Aug 8, 2009
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Wh...what!?
Why would they fire Marty O'Donnell? Why would they even consider that? That's like firing Yoko Shimomura and preventing her from doing the music for the Mario & Luigi series and Kingdom Hearts series. If any other company had half a brain then they're gonna pick up Marty real quick. Let's see if Microsoft nabs him back for Studio 343 to work on music for Halo 5, because while Halo 4's music was okay it missed that O'Donnell charm that I loved.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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I'd sincerely have to hope that it wasn't really "without cause", otherwise there really might be some value into research how many game company execs have had full-frontal lobotomies. I mean for them to just wake up in the morning and say "Hmmmm, you know what we need to do? We need to get rid of that guy that has filled our games with epic, mood-capturing music." seems like it'd be a bit odd.

Fired for something petty, I can understand and wave a middle finger at "The Man" for, but at least there'd be a reason for it. Fired "without cause" is just flat-out moronic.
 

Ham Blitz

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May 28, 2009
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This is depressing since when watching the Destiny trailers I was like yep, there is some Marty O'Donnell music there. I missed it. Honestly I can't remember a single song from Halo 4, whoever 343 got to compose that stuff.
LostGryphon said:
This isn't really related to the thread but I just noticed your avatar. I discovered (and watched all of) that show the other day and loved it.
 

Trishbot

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May 10, 2011
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Maybe his price tag was getting too high...

This is like Steven Spielberg or George Lucas firing John Williams from Indiana Jones or Star Wars.
 

Idsertian

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What?! This is... I don't... why would...

What the actual, living, un-metaphorical, flying fuck are Bungie thinking?! This doesn't make any sense! This is just... well, I'm absolutely speechless. This man gave my generation some of the best and most memorable ingame music ever created, to just sack him without cause is unthinkable!

Mark my words, there's more to this.

Until we get more news on the subject, let's play the man off with style!

 

JagermanXcell

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Oct 1, 2012
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Wait... why?! Can I get an explanation asap for firing a guy with so much artistic talent in his past?
I've only ever enjoyed Halo 1 and 2, so by the sound of it Destiny will have little to no memorability in it's score. Big mistake Activision.

Hopefully someone picks up Marty soon, hate so this guy not composing music.
 

antidonkey

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Since when does a board of directors get involved with personnel issues that don't involve the CEO? Perhaps Bungie is different but generally the board is there to make sure the CEO has their stuff straight and that's it.
 

YodaUnleashed

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Jun 11, 2010
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Wow, this is sad news, the Halo soundtracks are amongst my favourite of all game soundtracks and I was looking forward to hearing more of Marty's work on the Destiny series. This is a loss for Bungie and if done without any cause as Marty is claiming, is a wrongful decision. Even if its a matter of fees, as he is a long-time member, whatever price would surely be worth having his great music part of future games. I'm sure Marty will be just fine finding more work but working someplace with certain people for 10 years and then suddenly having that all taken away must be dreadfully dis-heartening. Shame on whoever made this decision in the upper echelons of Bungie provided it was without good cause as reported.
 

Zakarath

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Mar 23, 2009
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....What? He's pretty much the best and most recognizable composer in games (Jeremy Soule in a distant second). Why would you ever let him go??

Good luck in wherever you find yourself, sir.
 

Namehere

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May 6, 2012
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I still remember the first time I actually saw Halo up close. I've always been inured to hype. In fact the more hype a game gets the less likely I am to be interested in it, for whatever reason. I was less then impressed to be stuck sitting with friends playing a video game - I mean, watching them play a game I had no interest in. Sitting there and prepared to be bored to tears it was the intro music alone that made me decide: maybe there's something to this game. That music still rumbles bout my head from time to time, and why shouldn't it? It was simple, elegant and in some ways richer then the game itself.

My best wishes and highest hopes go out to Mr. O'Donnell.
 

Batou667

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Oct 5, 2011
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H-hahaha! A-a-april fools, r-right? You got us good, Bungie! H-ha ha! We almost f-fell for it!
 

Hero of Lime

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SKBPinkie said:
Soviet Heavy said:
Maybe 343 Studios will hire him so Halo 5 won't have a shit soundtrack like 4 did.
Couldn't disagree more. I mean, Halo 4's soundtrack wasn't as good as something like ODST, but it was still fantastic.

OT: It's a dumb idea to fire someone whose music is almost legendary. He will do great things wherever he ends up.
Yay! Someone else who does not hate Halo 4's soundtrack! :D Though I agree the best Halo songs came from Marty O' Donnell.

OT: Yeah that was pretty foolish of Bungie, like others in this thread I really hope he goes to 343 Industries. He probably has a lot of friends there from the Halo days.
 

Covarr

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May 29, 2009
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He and Paul McCartney were working together on Destiny, right? I wouldn't be surprised if they had a disagreement, and McCartney had more force to put behind him what with being one of the biggest names in music history.

P.S. Thanks
 

TheSapphireKnight

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Dec 4, 2008
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I have no idea what the reasoning could have been. If there had been a falling out over pay, creative differences, etc I figure it would have come up with the announcement. So I assume the Bungie board must be filled with idiots.

With Staten and O'Donnel both gone it makes me question how well things are going with Destiny.
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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Good job Bungie: You just fired the one man responsible for the one part of your games I legitimately loved.
Well, he probably won't have to hunt for a job for long; a person of his talents and reputation will have it easy.

Still, I'd like to think he wouldn't be airing this publicly if he wasn't seriously upset.
 

Erttheking

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Oct 5, 2011
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What? WHY!? Why would you do that Bungie!? Halo's score was one of the best! Why the hell would you fire the mastermind behind that!?
 

Aerosteam

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Sep 22, 2011
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Well shit.

I'm less hyped for Destiny now, hopefully other composers can pick up from where Marty left off.

See you space composer...

 

Chatboy 91

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Feb 25, 2011
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The very height of bullshit. Marty's music was easily one of my favourite parts of the Halo games. I even bought the anniversary soundtrack on Vinyl! And if I could I would buy all the other soundtracks on Vinyl too! Hell, Siege of Madrigal and it's remixed Halo versions were what inspired me to start learning piano.


Bungie, you done goofed. I'm sure he'll do fine in his future endeavours, but the best of luck to him anyway.