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Marty O'Donnell Fired By Bungie
- Thread starter heckfu
- Start date
MightyHedgehog
Member
A real shame for Bungie and Bungie music fans. I'm sure that they want someone who is less expensive and more pliable, but I bet they probably didn't need him at the helm anymore with the bulk of the game done and with Bungie embarking on a journey of nothing but Destiny DLC for the foreseeable future and maybe the rest of the this console generation, if their talk of a decade of Destiny is true.
But even ODST had an iconic sax tune to it the Alll aaallloooooone dooodooodoooooo (lol)
Reach also had a similar theme throughout the soundtrack.
Halo 4 just went for large scale epic Hans Zimmery music instead of the more identifiable piexes
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
Marty has done a phenomenal job throughout the years.
That leak which suggested he was simply asking for too much money sounds about right. I'm sure Bungie didn't want to get rid of him, but at some point if he kept asking for more and more money on a project that is already incredibly massive, the board of directors are going to cut somewhere.
Marty is great, but just like anyone else, he's not indispensable.
That leak which suggested he was simply asking for too much money sounds about right. I'm sure Bungie didn't want to get rid of him, but at some point if he kept asking for more and more money on a project that is already incredibly massive, the board of directors are going to cut somewhere.
Marty is great, but just like anyone else, he's not indispensable.
The Librarian
Banned
Marty just tweeted this link: http://martyodonnellmusic.com/
Figured something like this was coming. Didn't think he'd move to another game company :/
He was one of very few composers that was a permanent part of the studio. He'll probably still do work for games, just on a contract basis like most game composers.
funkystudent
Member
I hope he works on something that isnt just more grand space opera stuff and he branches out a little but if EA wanted to get him to write a few tracks for the next mass effect I wouldnt be against it
dragonbane
Member
Wouldn't say Balfe is talentless. The score for Beyond was pretty good. However it was still a stupid decision to replace Kyd and now the composer changes for every new game anyway. They should keep Deriviere though, dude is awesome.
There's a big difference between "fired" and "laid off". Fired implies wrong doing on the employee's part. It makes subsequent job searches more difficult and means the employee is not eligible for unemployment. That doesn't seem to be the case here.
Not sure if it was mentioned and didn't feel like reading 40+ pages to see if it was. Thought I'd mention it, as I keep seeing the term misused in GAF topic titles.
Not sure if it was mentioned and didn't feel like reading 40+ pages to see if it was. Thought I'd mention it, as I keep seeing the term misused in GAF topic titles.
Yeah "terminated without cause" from a contract, to an unemployment office, is the same as a layoff.
Only real difference is that most people laid off get a severance, which affects their unemployment for a period of time.
I agree "fired" is a dramatic way to describe this job termination.
Don't jump into a 40 page thread to give basic information which common sense would dictate would have been covered. Marty said he was terminated without cause which is legal speak, not and indication of his feelings. He says "saddened" so that tells use he is, well sad. Terminated without cause means they ended his contract as an employee without stipulating a reason which is their right. No wrong doing is implied legally, but there must have been a reason they terminated him as they should be rational actors (nuclear deterrent theory is coming through here)
Edit: i see you are referencing the title...your feelings otherwise fired is a valid term for what happened to him, terminated is probably more legalistic accurate.
BumblebeeCody
Member
Never cared for the Halo series(not that I consider them bad) but I've sat through all the Halo games watching a friend play it, but always noted how damn good the music is. Another Rain <3
Hope this dude gets another job soon.
Hope this dude gets another job soon.
Orochinagis
Member
Too bad Halo Reach - Winter contingency wasnt incluyed in Level 3 album.
element
Member
Washington is an At Will Employment state, so you can get rid of anything for anything that isn't covered by the law.
Being 'terminated without cause' is a nice way of saying 'GTFO'. Large companies use a term called RIF (reduction in force), though since this was at the board level, it probably got ugly.
Being 'terminated without cause' is a nice way of saying 'GTFO'. Large companies use a term called RIF (reduction in force), though since this was at the board level, it probably got ugly.
SquiddyCracker
Banned
I have never heard of this dude before today.
I'm guessing he was fired because Bungie had all the music they needed, why would they keep him on?
I'm guessing he was fired because Bungie had all the music they needed, why would they keep him on?
O'Donnell was part of Bungie for years. Not contracted music, but also their sound director and so on. Big part of the studio. And a big deal for many Bungie fans, so no, they (probably) wouldn't have kicked him because they "didn't need him", unless, like the Reddit post claims (was it ever verified?) there were disagreement over his pay, or perhaps some other issue.
I imagine Hitman fans do too. Absolution would have been a lot better with Jesper Kyd's music. The atmosphere in that game was all wrong without him.
He's been at Bungie for a very long time. He's incredibly talented, so to see this happen is a pretty huge deal.
He's probably one of the greatest composers in the video game industry. Check out his ODST soundtrack if you're interested.
ncsuDuncan
Member
We managed to get a brief interview with Marty for DBO:
http://destiny.bungie.org/n/895
http://destiny.bungie.org/n/895
tokyo slim
Banned
Interesting that he still has financial stake in Bungie.
Poker Face
Member
Pretty sure he couldn't verify himself so I doubt it was real.
FUNKNOWN iXi
Member
I mean..... you did throw Requiem into the Sun and all :B
Would be his best move IMO.
Gordon0Freeman
Member
Link?
I'm busy sorry, can't dig it up. It has been linked to in this thread over and over again. Or search Reddit.
Finster
Member
Hahaha, a fool's errand, that be.
I love you, handsome
Shrennin
Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
I hope Marty still does video games, although I certainly wouldn't mind seeing him do film or even TV, but his game music makes me excited for games he composes. Seriously, my hype for Destiny as a franchise has decreased a bit (unless Marty is hired back on a contractual bases but that probably won't happen).
Well sometimes talent IS indispensable, as we're starting to learn with companies like Capcom.
If this really was over money I'll respect Bungie a lot less.
ncsuDuncan
Member
MarcoZombieCannon
Member
Nope. Just a bunch of conjecture and some bickering here and there.
Given how Marty worded his tweet and when he made it, I don't think we'll ever hear directly from anyone involved what actually went down.
ncsuDuncan
Member
Nothing too exciting, but here are a few quotes from Claude's phone chat with Marty:
http://destiny.bungie.org/files/marty-after-bungie/
Imagine the possibilities! Can anyone think of a good project for Spielberg to bring Marty in on?
http://destiny.bungie.org/files/marty-after-bungie/
Imagine the possibilities! Can anyone think of a good project for Spielberg to bring Marty in on?
PachinkoChampBruh
Member
If the Audio Director and someone who's been with them for 18 years and has basically created the audio/music for all of their games since Oni and Myth is expendable, I don't know what to say. Something had to have happened. He was one of the few faces of the company, one of the people who went on stage to announce Destiny as well. I just thought his music was amazing. Just won't be the same Bungie without him. I seriously hope he goes back to Halo and 343, though I'm pretty sure every studio will be showing interest in him.
LapinAgile
Member
I would like to see him stretch his legs and do something more than Halo music for the rest of his career. Hope he gets to try something new and exciting, his body of work speaks for itself already.