Halo's OG Composers Sue Microsoft For 20 Years of Royalties
The original composers for the Halo trilogy are suing publisher Microsoft for 20 years of royalties. The military science fiction media franchise has remained popular, as evidenced by the fact that Halo Infinite had the biggest opening for a game in the franchise and a TV series is currently in development.
Marty O'Donnell was one part of a duo that composed the soundtrack for the original Halo video game trilogy. In addition to composing the soundtrack, O'Donnell also acted as the audio director and a member of the Board of Directors at Halo developer Bungie. Despite O'Donnell's executive roles at Bungie, the developer fired the composer in 2014 following a disagreement in the use of his music. O'Donnell waged a court battle against his former employer for unpaid wages, ultimately winning the case in 2015. However, in June of last year, Halo composer Marty O'Donnell divulged that he was being forced to shut down his YouTube channel due to wider legal issues. It was later revealed that O'Donnell had violated a court order against sharing or performing his music composed for Destiny, another Bungie game. The composer was forced to pay a penalty to the developer and issue a court-approved statement that asked for those in possession of his Destiny music to destroy their copies. Now, legal troubles persist for O'Donnell.
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As reported by Polygon, Marty O'Donnell and Mike Salvatori, the duo that composed the soundtrack of the original Halo trilogy, are suing Microsoft over what they claim are unpaid royalties. O'Donnell explains in an interview with Eurogamer that the two composers' joint studio, O'Donnell Salvatori Inc., will mediate with Microsoft. O'Donnell
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