Part of the success of the Halo game franchise is attributable to the iconic music of composer Martin O’Donnell. But despite his highly respected work on the series, it turns out his employer of 15 years Bungie no longer has need of his services, firing O’Donnell — as the composer alleges — “without cause.”
As reported by Crave gaming site CinemaBlend, O’Donnell broke the news himself, posting to his Twitter account Wednesday:
I’m saddened to say that Bungie’s board of directors terminated me without cause on April 11, 2014.
— Marty O’Donnell (@MartyTheElder) April 16, 2014
Bungie confirmed the news of O’Donnell’s departure, but didn’t address the reason for letting O’Donnell go (and since those kind of claims are usually some version of “he said, she said,” we’ll just refrain from assigning blame around those allegations until we find out some details.)
No matter who’s at fault, the separation is notable after O’Donnell’s long-time association with Bungie games. In addition to scoring four of Bungie’s Halo games, O’Donnell’s distinctive style was also found on Myth, Myth II and Oni.
The composer’s last work as Bungie’s in-house musician was putting together the score for the ginormous new game Destiny. It remains to be seen if O’Donnell completed work on the game or if another composer will have to step in to complete the work.
