Bungie posted about it. (Destiny)

by kapowaz, Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 01:45 (3662 days ago) @ Schooly D

Here's the theory I'm going with:
1. Marty, something close to a genius and responsible for much of Halo's success, commands a high salary
2. Bungie (optional: and/or ACTV) are getting antsy about this salary
3. Marty finishes Destiny's music (or most of it anyway)
4. Bungie (optional: at the behest of ACTV) meets with Marty to discuss compensation going forward
5. Marty asks for a lot, Bungie (optional: and/or ACTV) won't give it to him
6. Marty decides to leave, knowing there are any number of game studios ready to pick him up and pay him mad cash

Destiny is a new franchise, with (allegedly) three sequels and three major content updates contractually agreed to be delivered over the course of the next decade. There's absolutely no way that Marty has scored enough music to cover all of that, particularly as I have to imagine the story and events of those later games hasn't been finalised yet. In short, Destiny's music couldn't possibly be ‘finished’.

No, there's something else going on here. Maybe money was a factor, but I don't buy the theory above. Interesting as it may be, I can't see the salary of one member of staff (particularly somebody so iconic as Marty O'Donnell) being reason enough to terminate somebody prematurely. To do that you have to decide that the company is better off without that person around than with them.

Personally I suspect it's political (although not for something as Orwellian as Cody suggests, with his personal political views being called into question), and I'd probably wager it's got something to do with Destiny not being as ready as it should be by now, and the beta and launch date rapidly approaching. Remember how the beta was supposed to be ‘Spring 2014’? And now it's ‘Summer 2014’…? Marty's the kind of old school guy where I suspect he's likely not to have pulled his punches (behind the scenes) if he felt the game needed more work.

Grab your popcorn guys, this one's gonna be fun.