My world was rocked this morning. No, not in the serious "a family member passed" sort of way, but fuck, I listen to this guy's music on pretty much a daily basis...for God's sake, I flew to Seattle in large part just to see a piece of his music played live for the first time. So to find out this morning that he was abruptly canned by the company where he's been the resident composer for over a decade...well, damn.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/04/16/halodestiny-composer-marty-odonnell-fired-by-bungie/

Video game icons leave their companies frequently in a rarely static industry, but this is one high profile departure that should make everyone sit up and take notice. Bungie has reportedly fired longtime Halo composer/audio director Marty O’Donnell. And according to him, it was without notice.

“I’m saddened to say that Bungie’s board of directors terminated me without cause on April 11, 2014,” he said on Twitter.

Bungie’s statement is even less descriptive, though it directly counters O’Donnell’s tone.

“For more than a decade, Marty O’Donnell filled our worlds with unforgettable sounds and soundtracks, and left an indelible mark on our fans. Today, as friends, we say goodbye. We know that wherever his journey takes him, he will always have a bright and hopeful future. ”

From the sound of his tweet, it doesn’t seem like they’re departing “as friends,” at all.

O’Donnell is responsible for the eternally iconic Halo score, and was working on Bungie’s upcoming space MMO/shooter Destiny as well. He’s pretty much been responsible for all Bungie’s audio for over a decade now, and his sudden termination makes little to no sense from the outside. To put this in perspective, it’s like Steven Spielberg firing John Williams. That just wouldn’t happen.

So what did happen? We’ve reached out to both parties to find out more, though it may be in everyone’s best interests to stay silent. The only thing that comes to mind is “creative differences,” or O’Donnell somehow screwing up so badly professionally or personally that Bungie was forced to fire him. Still, to end a relationship that storied and productive is exceptionally strange, even in an industry where major players hop between companies all the time.

It’s not like O’Donnell won’t land a job in the industry. I’d be surprised if he didn’t have a half dozen job offers already, possibly even one from 343 Industries, Microsoft's MSFT +0.98% new Halo envoy.

No word on how this will affect Destiny’s soundtrack, which O’Donnell was likely wrapping up. With the game just five months away, perhaps his work was already complete, but if not, it’s hard to imagine anyone could step up and fill his shoes easily. And if he was fired for wanting to take things in a different direction than Bungie, it’s a bit late to remake a soundtrack from scratch.

It’s too early to say who’s right and wrong here with such limited information. Hopefully we’ll hear back from either party to get further clarity as to why Bungie and O’Donnell would inexplicably split like this. More to come, and in the meantime, enjoy O’Donnell’s work in the form of the iconic Halo 3 theme: <link to Halo 3 theme here>

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Lipid, do you work in the Video game field at all? Anything to do with it?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Nope, just a fan.

Sorry, Lipid.

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This is my signature...

There is no money in video game development.

Not #fasttrack money at least.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Or job security.