Video video game industry veteran Martin ODonnell, who made up the music for Halo and was on Bungies board of directors, has actually spoken really honestly about the offer Bungie made with Activision and how everything fell apart. The long and short of it is that ODonnell had a bad sensation about the offer for the Destiny series from the very beginning, however the whole story resembles something out of a motion picture.
Speaking With YouTuber HiddenXperia, ODonnell first clarified that it was Bungies 7 members of the board of directors that collectively decided to deal with Activision. ODonnell was a member, so he acknowledged his part in the decision. ODonnell also continues to hold stock in Bungie.
Going over the origins of the offer, ODonnell said he has misgivings right now. “We knew it was a risk right from the get-go,” he said. “It turned out to be exactly as bad as we believed it was going to be. Everybody who no longer works for Bungie is going to say, Yeah, it was bad from the start.”.
Higher-ups at Bungie who still work there will not acknowledge that it was a bothersome deal from the start, ODonnell said.
” If you still work for Bungie, youre going to be political and youre going to say all sorts of things like, Oh, we had a good collaboration and blah we were able to develop a wonderful thing. Thats BS,” ODonnell said.
ODonnells summary of the offer with Activision is that it was “not a marriage made in heaven at all.”.
Bungie decided to sign with Activision due to the fact that the Call of Duty publisher was permitting Bungie to maintain ownership of the Destiny IP. Bungie did not want to duplicate this for its brand-new offer for Destiny.
” The reason that we opted for Activision was not simply the cash, however it was because as part of the contract– they didnt own the IP,” ODonnell stated.
ODonnell said it was a “non-negotiable” item for him in his discussions with the rest of Bungies board before making the offer with Activision. And in a surprise of a revelation, ODonnell likewise reveals that Bungie was “really close” to negotiating with Microsoft for Destiny before Activision won out. “We nearly returned to Microsoft,” ODonnell stated.
Likewise throughout the interview, ODonnell pointed to among the reasons Bungie fired him. He suggested that some members of Bungies leadership team wished to offer Activision more control of Destiny.
The only way they would be prevented from messing with the IP is if all the leadership at Bungie said you cant mess with the IP. And thats why they fired me,” ODonnell said.
” That was probably my most significant disappointment– we worked for a decade to ensure we could be in a position where we might withstand the publisher and say, no, we own the IP– you cant tinker it. And I was overruled and ultimately let go,” he added.
One of the more chilling revelations from the interview is a story that ODonnell shared about a supper he had with Activisions executives simply prior to the offer was done, consisting of CEO Bobby Kotick and a CFO that ODonnell described as an Austrian male from the “Vienna School of Economics.” He never ever mentions a name, however Activisions former CFO was Thomas Tippl, an Austrian man who was included in the offer to sign Bungie for Destiny.
ODonnell shared that he has a saying, “be nice to the goose,” which indicates you ought to be good to the goose since thats where golden eggs come from. In this analogy, Bungie is the goose that lays the golden egg that is Destiny. This unnamed Austrian service executive informed ODonnell, “Yeah, I like that story … golden eggs … the goose. Sometimes theres nothing like an excellent Foie gras.”.
Foie gras is the French cuisine that is made from goose liver after the bird is fattened by forced feeding. ODonnell was alarmed that Activision saw Bungie as a goose to be fattened and then exterminated, and today he wants he had raised issues to his colleagues.
” The red flag went off. I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode,” he stated.
At the exact same time that Activision was making this handle Bungie, Activision remained in the middle of its tumultuous relationship with Call of Duty Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward that saw the business fire founders Jason West and Vince Zampella for insubordination.
” They were consuming the liver of Infinity Ward while I was sitting at that table,” ODonnell said., and I was incorrect. My gut instinct was this is bad, we should not do this.
In 2015, ODonnell won his legal case against Bungie. A court-appointed arbitrator ruled that Bungie breached its agreement with ODonnell when it fired him “without cause” and made him provide up his business stock and drop out of Bungies profit-sharing strategy.
When it comes to Bungie, with Activision now out of the photo, Bungie is self-publishing the Destiny series. The studio has strong aspirations for the future of Destiny, including new growths through 2022.
In addition, Bungie received $100 million from Chinese business NetEase to make non-Destiny video games.
Speaking to YouTuber HiddenXperia, ODonnell initially clarified that it was Bungies seven members of the board of directors that jointly made the choice to work with Activision. ODonnell also continues to hold stock in Bungie.
Bungie chose to sign with Activision since the Call of Duty publisher was permitting Bungie to maintain ownership of the Destiny IP. ODonnell said it was a “non-negotiable” item for him in his conversations with the rest of Bungies board before making the offer with Activision. And in a surprise of a discovery, ODonnell likewise exposes that Bungie was “very close” to making an offer with Microsoft for Destiny prior to Activision won out.
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