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[Nirolak]

It seems the lawsuit was settled out of court.

O’Donnell was fired on April 11 as audio director at Bellevue, Wash.-based Bungie “without cause,” according to the lawsuit. He was hired in May 2000 and produced the pulse-pounding soundtrack that helped make Halo a memorable hit. Over its lifetime of sales, Halo has grossed an estimated $3.4 billion, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Superior Court in King County in Washington.

O’Donnell said in the filing that Bungie and Ryan gave no explanation for the firing. The suit notes that Bungie has a policy to pay employees accrued but unused vacation, paid time off, sabbatical time, and other benefits. Ryan and Bungie reportedly promised to pay.

The suit was filed May 1. In an answer on May 27, Bungie and Ryan denied that O’Donnell was due any relief. Under the agreement, Ryan will pay O’Donnell more than $38,385 in unpaid work and vacation time, as well as another $38,385 in double damages. With attorney’s fees and interest, the total judgement for O’Donnell will be $95,019.13.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/21/h...or-unpaid-wages-from-bungies-chief-exclusive/

 

[PSOreo]

Glad its been dealt with seemingly quickly. Just wonder what went down.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

I think Bungie loses more in this case than Marty does. He deserves more though, a lot of what people associate with Halo is the sound he created.

343 needs to grab him. Or he need to join another studio working on a big franchise.

 

[JDSN]

Bungie doesnt realize the big loss they took.

 

[hellmonkey]

Sounds like he get twice what he wanted. He should be happy.

 

[bro1]

I think Bungie loses more in this case than Marty does. He deserves more though, a lot of what people associate with Halo is the sound he created.

We don't know what his pay was prior to the settlement. And that $3.5B number is very misleading. You need to know the total spend for marketing, development, production, etc.

 

[Nirolak]

I think Bungie loses more in this case than Marty does. He deserves more though, a lot of what people associate with Halo is the sound he created.

343 needs to grab him. Or he need to join another studio working on a big franchise.

He specifically is getting paid the unused vacation time he had at double damages (since it went to lawsuit) and then about $15-$20K in legal fees.

 

[sjay1994]

It doesn't feel right listening to destiny's awesome soundtrack... knowing he was let go.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

and now we'll probably never know what happened that set this all off. oh well.

 

[Nirolak]

We don't know what his pay was prior to the settlement. And that $3.5B number is very misleading. You need to know the total spend for marketing, development, production, etc.

Misleading in what way? It's explicitly stated as revenue, not profit.

 

[Log4Girlz]

and now we'll probably never know what happened that set this all off. oh well.

it'll eventually become known. .. I'm super curious

 

[Silky]

...Marty should be freelance and compose whatever he's paid. Sounds more fun than just being an in house composer.

 

[Stumpokapow]

We don't know what his pay was prior to the settlement. And that $3.5B number is very misleading. You need to know the total spend for marketing, development, production, etc.

I suspect Nirolak didn't put the 3.4 billion dollar number in the title to contrast to Marty's payout, but rather because it's new information about the Halo franchise that came out as a result of this legal action.

 

[LiK]

Poor Marty. He did so much for them.

 

[funkystudent]

Will be interesting to see if Marty goes back to Halo and what direction Bungie takes the music of Destiny 2.

TBH I wouldn't be unhappy if they try something radically different. Destiny sounds great so far but it does sound VERY Halo

 

[ShOcKwAvE]

Are there any rumors from insiders on why it went down like that?

 

[ppor]

Wait, even if an employee is fired with cause, why would a company refuse to pay out unused vacation time?

 

[bastian]

Marty is every gamers friend. Bungie management are idiots.

Don't be surprised if in spite they don't release a soundtrack for Destiny with Marty's great music, as no doubt they don't want him making $ off it.

 

[Mysterious]

$3.4 seems low for a franchise with 4 games (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST), and even worse if you also consider 343's Halo 4 (which wouldn't make sense in this context anyways).

 

[Bittercup]

O’Donnell said in the filing that Bungie and Ryan gave no explanation for the firing.

This is what confuses me the most. Firing someone after 14 years without giving any explanation seems like a strange thing to do.

 

[Ken Masters]

Fucking ouch

 

[Neuromancer]

I'd really like to know what happened behind the scenes to prompt all this. Oh well.

 

[MrChocolate]

$3.4 seems low for a franchise with 4 games (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST), and even worse if you also consider 343's Halo 4 (which wouldn't make sense in this context anyways).

Are you serious?

 

[PuppetSlave]

$38,385 in unpaid work and vacation time

Wow, what BS that he needed to go to court to get what he was owed.

Glad he got double the amount for all the trouble.

 

[Fisty]

Whatever happened to Paul McCartney doing Destiny tunes? Made me curious if there was some clashing there, Marty seemed a little big for his boots if you catch my drift

 

[scytheavatar]

Are there any rumors from insiders on why it went down like that?

Rumors are that he wanted a pay rise when the people at Bungie already feels that he's overpaid for his work.

 

[JB1981]

Not sure how much of the music in the Destiny beta is 100% Marty but I have to say the music is wonderful and really makes a lot of the game for me. Huge feels from the soundtrack.

Just speculating but I know Marty probably holds some political/religious views not shared by the folks at Bungie and that may have been what ultimately lead to his firing.

 

[Interrobang]

Can we, as people who have seen this time and time again in this industry, speculate to the most plausible reasoning for this?

Were they just cutting corners and decided Marty paycheck/having in-house composer was unreasonable?

Were there any hints at bad blood through his career at Bungie?

 

[Hindle]

Martys soundtracks really helped Halo become iconic. Bungie should just have given him the payrise he wanted.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

$3.4 seems low for a franchise with 4 games (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST), and even worse if you also consider 343's Halo 4 (which wouldn't make sense in this context anyways).

$3.4b in revenue is low?

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

$3.4 seems low for a franchise with 4 games (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST), and even worse if you also consider 343's Halo 4 (which wouldn't make sense in this context anyways).

$3.4 billion dollars seems low.

What.

Also there's been 6 games (7 counting Halo Wars).

 

[Ninja Dom]

The key word here is SETTLED. So Marty must be satisfied with this pay-out.

 

[Scoot2005]

Good. Man deserves to be paid. Fuckin' LEGEND he is.

 

[enanogrande]

Are you serious?

Well, at $60 a pop it's "only" 57 million units... (assuming that all those 3.4 billion come from game sales)

When compared to COD selling something like 15/20 million units per release, I understand why he says it 'sounds' low.

 

[StrongArmSteady]

$3.4 seems low for a franchise with 4 games (Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST), and even worse if you also consider 343's Halo 4 (which wouldn't make sense in this context anyways).

you forgot Reach/Halo Wars...

 

[Pikma]

That's... not a lot of money for the importance of such a role in the company.

 

[StrongArmSteady]

That's... not a lot of money for the importance of such a role in the company.

its a shame videogame musicians dont get paid royalties

 

[Frog-fu]

Get him, 343i/Microsoft.

 

[GlamFM]

Roughly 100k is nothing honestly.

I´m sure that´s not what he was hoping for.

 

[Denton]

I just want to know why did they fire him. So bizzare.

 

[Sola Scriptura]

We'll probably never know the particulars, but it seems like Marty felt he was owed more than what he received over the lifetime of Halo's success and Bungie disagreed. Things probably reached a boiling point, and he was fired. Of course, as with many things, there is probably fault on both sides.

It's a shame, as he is definitely one of the industry's finest talents. Bungie is taking a hit by losing him.

 

[Prophet Steve]

There are many people that believe Bungie made a huge mistake letting him go.

As much as I love the work that he has done in his games, I doubt Bungie would have let him go without a good reason. Maybe he was difficult to work with or had soms massive conflicts with management or something. That they made a plea does not make that false either.

 

[kswiston]

Well, at $60 a pop it's "only" 57 million units... (assuming that all those 3.4 billion come from game sales)

When compared to COD selling something like 15/20 million units per release, I understand why he says it 'sounds' low.

Platform exclusives have serious caps on their potential sales. I don't think any of the Halos broke 15M. Definitely not without being hardware pack ins.

That said, GTAV could potentially hit $3B on its own when the PS4/XB1/PC sales are factored in. Multiplat is the way to go for huge sales.

 

[Nirolak]

Roughly 100k is nothing honestly.

I´m sure that´s not what he was hoping for.

If he didn't want the settlement he presumably wouldn't have settled.

I suspect Nirolak didn't put the 3.4 billion dollar number in the title to contrast to Marty's payout, but rather because it's new information about the Halo franchise that came out as a result of this legal action.

Yes.

 

[TAJ]

Wait, even if an employee is fired with cause, why would a company refuse to pay out unused vacation time?

Because they expect former employees to just roll over?
A client screwed my old boss out of $40,000 in overdue milestone payments and he didn't even try to sue for it.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Roughly 100k is nothing honestly.

I´m sure that´s not what he was hoping for.

The suit was over cashing-in paid time off, which he's now been awarded along with damages and fees, so it sounds like he got exactly what he was hoping for.

No one in the public was hoping Bungie would fire Marty O'Donnell.

As much as I love the work that he has done in his games, I doubt Bungie would have let him go without a good reason. Maybe he was difficult to work with or had soms massive conflicts with management or something. That they made a plea does not make that false either.

Precisely, this suit was over promised pay from Bungie's president Harold Ryan.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

We'll probably never know the particulars, but it seems like Marty felt he was owed more than what he received over the lifetime of Halo's success and Bungie disagreed.

Where are you getting this? He says he has no idea why he was fired and wasn't given a reason, and Bungie hasn't said a word. This money was just for unused paid time off and shit like that that Bungie was refusing to pay him.

 

[BFIB]

Considering the horror stories we've heard about game development (LA Noire, Red Dead Redemption come to mind), I'm shocked there hasn't been a movement to unionize.

 

[Hindle]

Platform exclusives have serious caps on their potential sales. I don't think any of the Halos broke 15M. Definitely not without being hardware pack ins.

That said, GTAV could potentially hit $3B on its own when the PS4/XB1/PC sales are factored in. Multiplat is the way to go for huge sales.

$3.4B makes the series among the most lucrative franchises from the last 8 years.

 

[AdmiralSnackbar]

Rumors are that he wanted a pay rise when the people at Bungie already feels that he's overpaid for his work.

I wonder what 343 would value him at...