It's been a long road for the popular Destiny franchise which has seen a ton of changes since the 10 year partnership deal with Activision was signed by Bungie. Since 2010, a sequel was developed, countless expansions released, numerous high profile developers have left, and the partnership between Bungie and Activision was also ended back in early 2019. Although he hasn't been with the company in six years, Marty O'Donnell has offered up his insight into the former deal between the two companies over the Destiny IP.
Appearing on a podcast with HiddenXperia on YouTube, O'Donnell was asked specifically about his thoughts after hearing Bungie has split from Activision. His initial thought was 'It's about time' but he also admitted that as a former board of director at Bungie, he's partly to blame for the deal happening in the first place. Ultimately, the board knew the deal would be a risk and O'Donnell fully admits that it was as bad as they initially thought.
Interestingly enough, O'Donnell believes that former employees would agree with his viewpoint, though employees still there would likely attempt to be more diplomatic by saying the deal worked or give another scripted style answer. In O'Donnell's eyes, part of the reason for going with Activision was due to the money the company offered as well as being able to retain the Destiny IP, something the studio didn't have when it worked on the Halo series for Microsoft.
Later in the interview, O'Donnell shared a story regarding a dinner with executives at Activision prior to the finalized deal being signed. Speaking with the Activision CFO, O'Donnell made a comment saying that it was nice to be the goose, a reference to the fact that Bungie would be the goose laying golden eggs for Activision. The CFO mentioned that he liked the analogy, "but sometimes there's nothing like a good Foie Gras." This statement raised a red flag for O'Donnell as Foie Gras is a controversial food that involves force feeding the goose before it is ultimately slaughtered. To this day, O'Donnell admits that telling the story still gives him chills.
As many may remember, O'Donnell served as the composer for many of Bungie's games until his very public firing back in 2014. The news came as a shock to most fans and the messy breakup led to a number of legal battles between the studio and O'Donnell. While the lawsuit was ultimately settled a few months after the news broke, the lawsuit also shone a light on numerous development issues that the original Destiny had, including the game's story troubles and characters who were ultimately changed or cut completely.
Destiny 2 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
Source: YouTube