Last year, Bungie reportedly fired Marty O'Donnell - the man who wrote the theme to the famous Halo as well as the music to the Destiny video game. O'Donnell then filed a lawsuit against the Bungie's CEO, Harold Ryan; and now, the fan-favorite composer wins the legal fight with his former employer.
O'Donnell, based on past reports, was purportedly dismissed from the Bungie without explanation, which then shocked the fans as well as the composer.
According to the final ruling released Sept. 4 from an arbitrator, Ryan's company shall honor the agreements it made with O'Donnell, giving the composer the legal right to have a share of stock in Bungie.
The arbitrator also added the company dishonored the agreement with the composer when it terminated O'Donnell and reportedly forced him to surrender his stocks as well as forego involvement in Bungee's profit participation plan.
"I'm happy this is over, and I'm ready to move on," O'Donnell said in an interview.
O'Donnell was owed an amount of $142,500 for his work last year, as his first payment of the profit-sharing award.
On the other hand, based on the decision, the composer isn't permitted to publish music from the Destiny video game on his own unless of course he's allowed by the copyright owners to do so.
In a separate but relevant case, the composer also filed a suit versus Bungie to recover unpaid salaries related to his overtime as well as other compensation.
When he was awarded $95,000 by the court, as Tech Times earlier reported, what he did with the money was to put up his own game studio - he dubbed it "Highwire Games."
He co-founded the studio with Jaime Griesemer, a game designer and also a former employee of Bungee, as well as Jared Noftle, a co-founder of Airtight Games.
Airtight Games was the studio behind the success of Quantum Conundrum and Murdered: Soul Suspect.
The dispute began on 2010 when Bungie and Activision made an agreement to develop a five-part game franchise set to release in 2013. The composer made the Music of Spheres - the background music to the Destiny franchise's applications.
According to court papers, Activision did not want to release it as standalone work as well as during the preparation for the E3 2013.
Activision - in its trailer work - allegedly utilized another music than what the composer had created.
O'Donnell then responded angrily and thought the publisher overstepped its role by assuming control over the trailer music.
The press also reported he even interrupted press briefings.
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