Back in February, Halo series composers Marty O’Donnell and Mike Salvatori said they would be suing Microsoft over unpaid royalties, even looking into blocking the release of Paramount’s Halo TV show. Obviously, that didn’t happen (four episodes are available on Paramount+) and it sounds as if the matter was resolved without the need to take things to court.
In a simple Tweet, O’Donnell plainly wrote “Microsoft and O’Donnell/Salvatori, Inc., are pleased to have amicably resolved their differences.” At the time of writing, neither he, Salvatori, nor Microsoft has extrapolated any further, so it seems all parties involved were able to reach a satisfying agreement.
O’Donnell and Salvatori claimed that they were owed at least 20 years of royalties and had spent 10 years trying to get clarity from Microsoft over it. Having failed to make any headway, the pair elected to sue the company. Microsoft, meanwhile, argued that Halo’s music was considered as work-for-hire, meaning it was the sole author of the work, which O’Donnell and Salvatori disputed.
The two had worked on the music for the Halo series during Bungie’s tenure as the developer, from the first Halo until Halo: Reach. They went on to compose Bungie’s next project, Destiny, although O’Donnell was fired in 2014 and his contributions were left unused. He now works at Highwire Games, the studio behind the controversial Six Days in Fallujah, which he co-founded in 2015. Salvatori remains a part of Bungie and has continued to compose music for Destiny 2 and its expansions.
