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Marty O’Donnell in contempt of court, owes Bungie almost $100,000 USD

The former Halo, Destiny composer has some pretty big legal bills to pay.

Halo and Destiny composer Marty O’Donnell has been found in contempt of court and owes former studio Bungie nearly $100,000 USD in legal fees as a result.

According to legal documents obtained by Eurogamer, O’Donnell was found in contempt of a previous 2015 ruling back on 12 July of this year.

As part of the 2015 case, O’Donnell — who won against Bungie at the time — was ordered to surrender all materials relating to Destiny back to Bungie. In 2019, the composer began to upload Destiny‘s Music from the Spheresan eight-movement symphony co-written with the legendary Paul McCartney, to YouTube and Bandcamp. Bungie took note of the action and alleged that the composer’s “very possession of such materials proves he did not comply with the order to return ‘all material’ to Bungie.”

The court has sided with Bungie in this instance and has ordered O’Donnell to surrender his electronics to a third-party firm that will oversee a forensic examination ensuring all Destiny assets have been removed. O’Donnell will also have to pay Bungie all monies earned from the publication of Music from the Spheres alongside Bungie’s expenses and legal fees in bringing this new matter to court. Eurogamer reports that figure is close to $100,000 USD.

While O’Donnell has remove the work in question from YouTube, his co-composer McCartney has not.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.