Post by wittyscorpion on Sept 5, 2015 13:31:45 GMT -5
As you may already know, one of the best composers in the gaming industry, Marty O'Donnell, was fired from Bungie (which looks like he cofounded) last year without a cause. Now we finally know why:
www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/09/05/destiny-composer-marty-odonnell-wins-case-with-bungie-full-conflict-detailed-in-court-documents.aspx
The conflict stems from a dispute between O'Donnell and Destiny's publisher Activision. When beginning work on Destiny, O'Donnell composed the music for the entirety of the planned Destiny franchise as opposed to creating new music as each new entry released. O'Donnell wanted to release the soundtrack after completion in 2013 as an album called The Music of the Spheres. Activision was not enthusiastic about releasing Music of the Spheres, which frustrated O'Donnell. In planning for E3 2013, Bungie prepped a trailer for the game featuring O'Donnell's music, but Activision took over the trailer, and changed the soundtrack. This angered O'Donnell and he objected internally and later publicly by tweeting that Activision had composed the trailer's music – not him.
O'Donnell believed he was maintaining Bungie's artistic integrity, but Activision and Bungie's president, Harold Ryan, saw it as an act of aggression saying he drove a "negative online discussion" about Destiny, and hurt the team. Other internal complaints stated O'Donnell was not contributing to the game's audio work enough as he was waiting for the game to be playable before completing work. It was these complaints that led to O'Donnell's termination.
Ultimately, O'Donnell got what he was seeking, in terms of stock in the company, and has since started a new game development studio, Highwire Games, which you can read about here.
www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/09/05/destiny-composer-marty-odonnell-wins-case-with-bungie-full-conflict-detailed-in-court-documents.aspx
The conflict stems from a dispute between O'Donnell and Destiny's publisher Activision. When beginning work on Destiny, O'Donnell composed the music for the entirety of the planned Destiny franchise as opposed to creating new music as each new entry released. O'Donnell wanted to release the soundtrack after completion in 2013 as an album called The Music of the Spheres. Activision was not enthusiastic about releasing Music of the Spheres, which frustrated O'Donnell. In planning for E3 2013, Bungie prepped a trailer for the game featuring O'Donnell's music, but Activision took over the trailer, and changed the soundtrack. This angered O'Donnell and he objected internally and later publicly by tweeting that Activision had composed the trailer's music – not him.
O'Donnell believed he was maintaining Bungie's artistic integrity, but Activision and Bungie's president, Harold Ryan, saw it as an act of aggression saying he drove a "negative online discussion" about Destiny, and hurt the team. Other internal complaints stated O'Donnell was not contributing to the game's audio work enough as he was waiting for the game to be playable before completing work. It was these complaints that led to O'Donnell's termination.
Ultimately, O'Donnell got what he was seeking, in terms of stock in the company, and has since started a new game development studio, Highwire Games, which you can read about here.