The Bungie board has fired Marty O’Donnell, composer of, among other things, the music of the Halo series. According to the composer, the dismissal was without explanation. Bungie also confirmed the layoff.
O’Donnell leaves via Twitter know that he is saddened to say that Bungie’s executive team fired him for no reason. O’Donnell joined Bungie in 2000 as an audio director. There he worked on the music of the Myth and Halo games, among other things.
O’Donnell’s latest work commissioned by Bungie can be heard in the announcement trailer for the mmo shooter Destiny, which is due out in September this year. O’Donnell’s resignation leaves Michael Salvatori and Paul Johnson behind to work on music for Destiny. Paul McCartney’s contributions were short and one-off, and he is already out of the game’s music.
Bungie says on its site that the company and the composer are splitting as friends and the developer wishes him luck in his future plans. O’Donnell’s most successful work for Bungie is the Halo 2 soundtrack, which remains one of the best-selling game soundtracks of all time.
Update, 14.25: Minor involvement of Paul McCartney clarified.