Liontamer Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Dayum, big news yesterday. http://twitter.com/MartyTheElder/status/456303189998841856 http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/16/halo-destiny-music-composer-martin-odonnell-fired-by-bungie/ http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/16/halo-composer-terminated-awithout-causea-from-bungie Sooooo... back to Halo by joining 343? Anyone. We'll see what other info eventually makes the light of day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arglactable Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 That was a pretty shocking thing to wake up to yesterday. I can only assume that Microsoft contacted him immediately with the promise of an extremely large check with his name on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ad.mixx Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 well, that sucks. i wonder what the reason was though. pretty strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 O'Donnell's work on Halo was iconic. Sucks that he got fired (what are they smoking over here?!), but I don't think he'll have a problem finding work. Maybe we can get him on Halo 5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusK Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Allegedly, they fired him because he asked for a raise and got into an argument with a member of the board of directors about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Williamson Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Allegedly, they fired him because he asked for a raise and got into an argument with a member of the board of directors about it. He probably deserved a freaking raise. I bet Bungie's the stupid ones here. You have to fire someone like that for really good reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 He probably deserved a freaking raise. I bet Bungie's the stupid ones here. Maybe instead of speculating and dissing a whole company you should wait for the full story. And yes, I think it would be a good move for 343 to grab him for the next big game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Maybe instead of speculating and dissing a whole company you should wait for the full story. Just like you could've avoided starting an argument for no reason and waited to do the same. I didn't even know this guy before it started trending everywhere on the internet today, but what (little) I've seen on it so far is that he didn't know the reason himself earlier. He claims to have been let go without cause. Considering how everyone's reacting to the news, he seems celebrated enough to put it well within the realm of reason that Bungie made a bullshit move there. Trouble does not seem far behind the AAA company these days, I'd totally believe it until Bungie responds with something pretty tangible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Just like you could've avoided starting an argument for no reason and waited to do the same. How ironic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 oh look, another pissing contest between neblix acting like he's an adult and meteo acting like he's an adult. how original. i still haven't seen anything specific about what the firing was about. dusk, where'd you hear your story? any more details? if that's the case, regardless of how much he asked for or what he was being paid, it's generally a bad idea to get into a fight with a board of directors for anything. that's like getting fired and suing for your job back, it never really works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Infinite Machine Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 He's just a musician; it's not like his career is over or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ad.mixx Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 i still haven't seen anything specific about what the firing was about. dusk, where'd you hear your story? any more details? if that's the case, regardless of how much he asked for or what he was being paid, it's generally a bad idea to get into a fight with a board of directors for anything. that's like getting fired and suing for your job back, it never really works out. nothing last forever either. if he was arguing for more money he probably wasn't too satisfied with his job. that seems like it'd be the case. i'm more curious about who bungie is going to hire for composition now (if they even need to hire anyone else) or if the music quality will fall in any way. they still make awesome games regardless so its cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modus Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 i'm more curious about who bungie is going to hire for composition now. Maybe they're looking to change directions with their scores. I've always like Halo music, but I feel like it could be a lot more adventurous, and you tend to get the same feel even if you ask the composer to switch styles.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusK Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 dusk, where'd you hear your story? Reddit. A guy claiming to be a Bungie employee dropped a rather lengthy explanation, and iirc offered up a pic of his employee badge with the name blurred out as proof of his employment. His comments have since been deleted. So yeah, I'd take it with a grain of salt. I should have screencapped it or something, though. It was a pretty detailed summary. To me, this just looks like Bungie not knowing what they had. His music's fantastic. There have to be a lot of quietly upset people in the studio right now, though apparently there was a bit of jealousy there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoboKa Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 corporate evil and short-sightedness at its finest gentlemen. But more so the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 marty o'donnell won a ton of awards. i highly doubt they didn't know what they had - he's a known quantity at this point, and his work on (for example) the ODST and halo 4 scores shows both his versatility within a set style and his creativity. both of those scores were fantastic. sometimes even the best matches don't work out, though. i think that link that dusk linked is pretty telling - do what i did and search for 'mart' on the page and you'll see the section i was talking about. again, i'm not defending a corporate entity against an individual, but corporate america is generally not in the business of throwing away blue-chip employees because someone's feelings got hurt. i doubt there's not more going on here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmadonRK Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Marty did amazing work for Bungie for 15 years, but we have no idea how easy that relationship was to maintain. No doubt he was an expensive man to keep on the payroll, and most would agree that his talent was well worth it, but it's not hard to imagine that any difficulty working with him, or in negotiating a contract/salary bump with him, would make a board of directors question that value. They can get another composer/audio director for a fraction of the price, with talent and experience, but without the same cachet. Someone easier to work with, and who won't rock the boat, because they are eager to keep their job. Sad to say, it's just business. While I'm upset to see him go, and I think Bungie got what they paid for with Marty - a pre-eminent talent in his field - it's easy to see how a corporate administration would rather cut a few corners instead. That said, this is just my interpretation of rumour and speculation. We may or may not find out what really made this happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 interesting note i read: california is an at-will state, meaning that all 'without cause' means it that he didn't do anything specific to be let go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrow Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 interesting note i read: california is an at-will state, meaning that all 'without cause' means it that he didn't do anything specific to be let go. That's pretty spot on; it's the same here in DC. "Terminated without cause" basically just means Bungie laid Marty off for one of any number of possible reasons except employee misconduct. I.E., Marty likely didn't do anything (overt) to get himself fired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newt Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 interesting note i read: california is an at-will state, meaning that all 'without cause' means it that he didn't do anything specific to be let go. IIRC: There are potential issues picking up unemployment if you're fired 'with cause'. Generally people fired 'without cause' were fired for some reason that the company can't legally hold against an individual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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