In the USA, a lawsuit regarding Destiny has ended. The long-time chief composer of Bungie, Marty O’Donnell, sued Bungie. Details about the development history have come to light.
Venturebeat reports on the recently concluded lawsuit regarding Marty O’Donnell. He had been with Bungie for a long time, co-founded the company, composed the music for Halo, and was also responsible for Destiny. Initially, it was planned that his music would accompany all Destiny titles.
O’Donnell composed a symphony with 8 movements together with former Beatle Paul McCartney and recorded it in early 2013. It was planned that this music, called “Music of the Spheres”, would be used for all Destiny parts.
The Cause of the Frustration: Activision did not use O’Donnell’s music for the E3 trailer
Problems arose, as it became known, in the run-up to E3 2013. It became clear that Activision would not use O’Donnell’s music for the E3 trailer. They also showed no intention of releasing it as a “standalone” work, which was very important to O’Donnell.
Instead, Activision created the trailer themselves and used their own music. For O’Donnell, this was a sign that Bungie was no longer the “community of brothers” it once was and that Activision was interfering too much in the creative process, causing the development studio to lose its independence. Bungie seems to have agreed to some extent with this. Bungie CEO Harold Ryan vetoed it, but Activision overruled it.
Apparently, there were a number of internal conflicts afterwards, and the atmosphere between the chief composer, the company, and the colleagues worsened. If O’Donnell had resigned voluntarily, he would have faced huge financial disadvantages; he would have lost his shares in Bungie, which he was entitled to as a co-founder.
Reports from the court indicate that team members complained that O’Donnell was not delivering as much as they expected from him. Additionally, it became increasingly frustrating to work with O’Donnell.
Bungie believed that O’Donnell was prioritizing his personal interest in releasing the Destiny soundtrack over the company’s interests.
This is the trailer BEFORE the E3 trailer:
The Ruling Favors the Chief Composer
O’Donnell received poor ratings and contested them. His contract was ultimately terminated and his shares in the company were revoked, so that no one would be present at board meetings who would cause trouble. Later, Bungie’s lawyers at least stated this as a reason.
Apparently, not everything was above board: for example, his accrued vacation was not paid out. Bungie was concerned that O’Donnell wanted to release the music for Destiny on his own and used the money as “leverage.”
Now a ruling from an arbitration court is available. It favors O’Donnell. He will be significantly compensated financially and will regain his shares in the company. How much money he ultimately receives is unclear, as Bungie is not a publicly traded company. In a separate lawsuit, O’Donnell was awarded the money for the vacation days. That amounted to $95,000.
The Trial Reveals Insights About Destiny
Interestingly, during the trial, some details came to light:
- Destiny was planned as a 5-part series, which was documented in a contract between Bungie and Activision on April 14, 2010.
- The original release date for Destiny I was September 24, 2013; afterwards, it was postponed once to March 2014 before reaching the actual release date.
- In August 2013, the story was significantly reworked, which caused the delay.
These are many details, that fans already suspected, but taking them officially from the court documents is certainly something different.
