Summary
- Former Halo composer Marty O'Donnell is transitioning to politics, announcing a run for Congress in Nevada.
- O'Donnell's campaign strategy taps into his gamer roots, with references to his work in the games industry.
- Reactions to O'Donnell's congressional run from people inside and outside the industry are a mix of praise and criticism.
Former Bungie employee and composer for the Halo franchise, Marty O'Donnell, has announced his intention to run for congress in the United States. O'Donnell is best known for his work composing the Halo soundtracks and the original Destiny alongside Michael Salvatori, which came to a swift end following his termination in April 2014.
It will shortly be a decade since Marty O'Donnell was fired from Bungie, a dismissal that prompted years of lawsuits and legal disputes with mixed results. O'Donnell took to Twitter in April 2014 to claim that he had been terminated "without cause" and won a court case the following year which saw Bungie ordered to return his shares in the company. But O'Donnell was found in contempt of court six years later and ordered to pay Bungie approximately $100,000 when he posted musical materials for Music of the Spheres, an eight-part symphonic suite intended to eventually be included in Destiny that was never officially released. O'Donnell claims that he spent the last few years preparing to retire, but has suddenly changed course.
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In a particularly lengthy tweet beginning with the assertion that he "never wanted to be a politician and I still don't," O'Donnell announces his desire to be a Republican candidate for Nevada's 3rd congressional district, aiming to unseat Democratic incumbent Susie Lee. O'Donnell's campaign website notes that he co-founded a studio titled Highwire Games following the debacle with Bungie, and mentions its first title, Golem, but omits the arguably much more well-known Six Days in Fallujah, a controversial video game that was called to be banned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
And O'Donnell is seemingly attempting to attract those familiar with his work, dubbing any would-be supporters as part of "Marty's Army," boasting a campaign website clearly inspired by Halo's space-faring militarism, and a not-so-subtle donation amount of $117 – a reference to famous Halo protagonist Master Chief, also known as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. Considering O'Donnell's adoption of the phrase "less lawyers, more composers," which is featured in his Twitter bio and a congressional campaign video that accompanies his announcement, it would be wise to refrain from invoking Halo too much, lest Microsoft's lawyers get involved.
Video Game Peers React To Halo Composer Congressional Run
The surprise revelation was met with praise from the likes of Elon Musk, but also disappointment from some peers in the video game industry. Stephen Barton who, alongside Gordy Haab, wrote the Grammy-winning soundtrack for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, tweeted that while being a "fine composer," O'Donnell was "thick as two short planks nailed together" when it came to politics. Barton accused him of hypocrisy and criticized O'Donnell's comments regarding immigration policy, citing his own experience of a "wildly, wildly corrupt and racist" system.
