You may remember that back in April of 2020, DOOM Eternal composer Mick Gordon had some criticisms to share following the botched release of the game's official soundtrack, and even reportedly told one fan that he doubted he'd work with id Software on another DOOM game in the future.
Now, two and a half years later, he's returned with an extremely long and critical statement (via Medium) directed at DOOM Eternal Executive Producer Marty Stratton, mainly focused around the "Open Letter" that Stratton published on the DOOM subreddit on May 5th, 2020, in which Stratton gave his verdict on the issues with the OST.
In Gordon's new statement, he says Marty Stratton "lied about the circumstances surrounding the DOOM Eternal Soundtrack and used disinformation and innuendo to blame me entirely for its failure". According to the composer, he was then offered a six-figure settlement to never speak about it, but he believes "the truth is more important".
"Marty’s Reddit post severely impacted both my professional and personal reputation. In releasing this statement, I’m exercising my right to defend myself. It is a defence, not an unprovoked attack, issued with extreme reluctance only after all other attempts to resolve the matter have failed."
The full statement is very, very long, so we recommend reading it for yourself if you want to get the full picture, but Gordon's criticisms include that he hasn't been paid for over half of DOOM Eternal's music, the OST was made available for pre-order before he was contracted to produce it, Marty Stratton "withheld crucial details" about the soundtrack's production, and much more. Basically, he's not happy at all, particularly with Stratton:
"... He published a 2500+ word “open letter” on a fan-run Reddit page that singled me out as the sole cause behind the botched OST. The post attracted thousands of comments and news articles and severely damaged my personal and professional reputation. Worst of all, he did it behind my back whilst leading me on with a bulls**t story about working together on a professional solution to the problem."
We don't know about you, but we're just sad to see this. DOOM Eternal is such a great game, and Mick Gordon is such a great composer - it's a real shame that we're probably never going to see another DOOM game with his involvement.
What do you make of this? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.
[source medium.com]
Comments 6
When you said "extremely long" I wasn't expecting biblical proportions. It's around an hour long read according to Medium. Thanks for linking directly to the cliff-notes.
If i'm struggling to get to sleep after GoW:R later i'll come back and read the whole thing!
EDIT: read the whole thing (a quiet afternoon). Where to begin...
It's a really sad situation because Doom wouldn't have made a huge impact on it's resurgence without the brilliant soundtrack by Mick Gordon. Thanks ID and Mick for rejuvenating this legendary franchise to a new height.
@Kaloudz So you can deal some damage to a bad actor in an industry known for being exploitative, and so you can warn other people not to do business with them. Especially if you STILL haven't gotten paid for work done years ago and you hope to put shame or pressure them into doing the right thing.
@nofriendo I need to read the whole thing to get his full picture, but I find it hard to reconcile “I was offered 6 figures to shut up” and “I have not been paid”, without full context sounds like his claims of being unpaid might be contested by the punisher, but still were willing to pay up 6 figures so long he also signed an NDA.
Sounds like Marty Stratton is the kind of industry figure that has made everything so toxic lately.
@Tharsman The (attempted) hush payment and the money owed are two separate things. He is owed money for work produced beyond the scope of his contract that Bethesda used and did not pay for. They attempted to resolve that by tying the owed money to a gag order. The problem here is that the company has issued a very public statement that impacts his reputation and could impact his ability to get future work - and the NDA would prevent him from providing a defense. It's a one-time payment and acceptance of responsibility weighed against future income. In addition, the money is owed for work that was produced and then used by the company that they did not pay for. Tying it to an NDA is ridiculous.
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