Bethesa Softworks released a statement today in response to allegations of crunch and music theft made by Doom Eternal’s Mick Gordon. The game publisher wrote that Gordon’s account of events was a “one-sided and unjust account of an irreparable professional relationship.”
Last week, Gordon published an extensive blog about his time working on the soundtrack to id Software’s 2020 shooter. The allegations made called out the studio’s executive producer Marty Stratton for poor management of the game’s soundtrack.
Gordon’s blog featured an incredibly extensive amount of documentation to back up his claims. With that in mind, Bethesda’s statement to him feels unusually forceful.
The claims against Stratton include allegedly employing id’s audio designer Chad Mossholder to secretly create a soundtrack using Gordon’s rejected music, and withholding Gordon’s pay for nearly a full year.
Gordon’s post came two years after Stratton wrote on Reddit that the composer made the choice to delay Doom Eternal’s soundtrack. Per Stratton’s original post, it fell on id to make up the rest of Eternal’s 59-track soundtrack included in the game’s collector’s edition.
Before Eternal, Gordon had composed music for several Zenimax games, including Doom 2016 and MachineGames’ recent Wolfenstein reboot.
In its statement, Bethesda continued to say that it “unequivocally supports Marty, Chad, and the team at id Software. We reject the distortion of the truth and selective presentation of incomplete ‘facts.”
“We remain incredibly proud of id’s previous collaborations with Mick Gordon and ask that fans refrain from reaching conclusions based on his account, and, more importantly, from attacking any of the individuals mentioned on either side, including Marty, Chad, or Mick.”
It’s strange that Bethesda is the one making this statement rather than Zenimax, which owns both it and id. By that same token, the complete silence from Microsoft, which acquired Zenimax and its many subsidiaries (including id and Bethesda) in 2021, is odd.
Game Developer has reached out to Mick Gordon and will update this story when the developer responds.