The Story Behind Marty O’Donnell’s Lawsuit Against Bungie

Marty O'Donnell, the composer of Destiny and Halo's epic soundtracks recently won his lawsuit against his former employer, Bungie. According to the lawsuit, the studio had refused to give him his back pay and stripped him of his entire ownership in the company, which he co-founded. 

Today, O'Donnell's friend and personal attorney Tom Buscaglia revealed what happened with O'Donnell and Bungie in a post entitled "The Story Behind the Story."

He wrote about how O'Donnell felt when his company turned against him and how it impacted not just his livelihood, but his life. 

"Marty was at a loss. He had been with Bungie since before it was acquired by Microsoft, 15 years earlier. It was a huge part of his identity and in many ways he felt lost and abandoned by the team that he had been instrumental in creating. Sure, he had disagreements with others in management, but he had always felt that he kept the best interests of Bungie above his own and done his best to make every game that Bungie made the best it could be. The Metacritic scores on the games he finish while at Bungie backed that up. But right now, he needed an action plan. Ligation is a difficult path that should never be embarked on lightly. But, Marty had little choice.

"Bungie tried to strip Marty of his entire ownership in Bungie by unilaterally forfeiting all of his shares in the company. RFA 12. He had to file an arbitration against Bungie challenging their actions. The Demand for Arbitration was filed in late April. In addition, contrary to Washington law, Bungie was refusing to pay Marty his unpaid wages. A separate law suit was filed against Harold Ryan, as Bungie’s CEO, in State Court to recover those wages as well. That suit was quickly resolved in Marty’s favor as there as no viable defense for Bungie’s actions. But the Arbitration itself dragged on for well over a year."

The blog post goes on to detail the toll this took on O'Donnell and his family. He reveals how some of O'Donnell's closest friends at Bungie, including people he hired and nurtured, testified against him during the trial. 

"To the man, almost nothing good was said about Marty personally or professionally, other than having to admit that he was a great composer, something that no one could deny. Each time Marty’s faith in his friends was crushed. Each time I cautioned him that people in law suits color their testimony. Each time he believed they would tell his story. Each time they failed him. The emotional toll on him was tremendous."

O'Donnell was eventually vindicated when he won the lawsuit, but the cost of his victory was tremendous. 

Overall, the blog post is extremely sad, but it's well worth the read.