disquieted

Let’s break this down. (and since they couldn’t even alt text correctly…)

“The recent post by Mick Gordon both mischaracterized and misrepresented the team at id Software, the development of DOOM Eternal, Marty Stratton, and Chad Mossholder with a one-sided and unjust account of an irreparable professional relationship.”

PHEW. okay, so first things first, id Software and DE’s development was never on Mick’s chopping block. His beef was with Marty specifically, and that included how Chad was working on the music at Marty’s direction. In his medium article, Mick says this:

Secondly, this wasn’t a one-sided argument. Mick cites in his Twitter thread, in his Medium article thumbnail, in the alternate text of the article link as shown on Twitter, and of course, in the article, how it was Marty’s Reddit post that kicked this off. Did I mention how irresponsible that Reddit post was? Because I don’t know about the rest of you, but dragging your contractor by dragging all of Reddit into it, which is known to be toxic as hell, is foul and unprofessional. 

Third of all, Mick did not go out of his way to insult anyone in his Twitter thread or his article. “Unjust” is a term that says to me that they absolutely will go to court over this. But I dunno, Mick having the run-around with Bethesda/Zenimax legal for as long as he has doesn’t quite seem very “just” either. 

Okay, second paragraph.

“We are aware of all the details and history in this matter and unequivocally support Marty, Chad, and the team at id Software. We reject the distortion of the truth and selective presentation of incomplete “facts”. We stand ready with full and complete documented evidence to disclose in an appropriate venue as needed.”

Yeah, did we really expect anything else? Again, id wasn’t really on the chopping block here, but whatever. And I hate to break it to you, Bethesda, but Mick is a contractor. He’s not going to know everything there is to know about the development of the game. But he has to know enough to create the music, which is the perspective he presented. And I get it, everyone’s got a perspective, but I can’t see defending the schedule that was presented to Mick and trying to force composition for levels that hadn’t been conceptualized yet. 

And here’s where I have to draw my line in the sand about calls for evidence from the public. If Bethesda and/or Mick plan to take this to court, which, it sounds like they do, they can NOT present evidence online. Period. More than likely this suit, should it happen, will take place in the United States. We hold trials by jury in civil cases, unless somehow Bethesda and Mick manage to settle this out of court, which by now is extremely unlikely. Having a jury means having people who have never even heard of Doom, Doom Eternal, id Software, Bethesda, Zenimax, or Mick Gordon, or seen the Reddit post or potentially, have never seen Reddit. That’s not an exhaustive list of the things that jurors couldn’t come in with an opinion on. I’m not a lawyer so take that with a grain of salt, but legally speaking, juries have to be unbiased. At this point we have to let the shit fly in a courtroom.

Although, “appropriate venue” feels like quite an ironic statement considering this kicked off over a Reddit post made by someone purporting to be representing id Software. I say this due to the fact that while it’s highly unlikely, if Bethesda can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was not Marty whom posted from that account on Reddit, then it could make the bottom fall out. But really and truly, I think it’s the only way to make this “one-sided” shtick make sense. 

Third paragraph!

“The statements posted online have incited harassment and threats of violence against Marty, Chad, and the id Software team. Any threats or harassment directed towards members of our teams will be met with swift and appropriate action to protect their health and safety.”

Gamers™ I’m talking to you. THIS IS AN OST WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. It’s music. Sending threats to ANYONE saying you’re going to kill them or harm their family or pets or whatever sick shit you come up with is gross, no matter the context, but especially over a damn OST. 

I will say that Mick did tell people not to harass, twice in fact: 

First in his original Twitter thread:

Second in a separate post after people began review-bombing DE: 

I will point out, though, where was this energy from Bethesda for Mick when Marty made his Reddit post? Worth noting nowhere in Marty’s Reddit post does Marty even take the professional courtesy of saying “Mick is still a talented composer, don’t harass him” or whatever he could have said along those lines. 

Last paragraph, here we go:

“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.”

There isn’t too much more for me to add here, other than to stress that Mick has absolutely done work for id before in several great titles, including at least three nuWolfenstein titles and DOOM 2016. Wouldn’t you think that Mick would have said more about those games had he had an issue with his work with id on those? Again, this sounds like an issue with Marty’s handling specifically and I can’t help but feel Bethesda is doing its damndest to use the id Software team as a shield, when, I can’t stress enough, Mick’s issue was mostly with Marty. It didn’t read to me that he even blames Chad for any of this, only pointing out that Chad’s work just wasn’t up to standard and Mick had brought this concern up to Marty. In his Medium article, Mick says this:

And the waveforms don’t lie. I’m not a musician but I know enough about music to know it shouldn’t look like that on a computer screen. And I cannot stress enough, Mick’s language here talks about Chad’s work specifically, not about Chad himself. 

All in all, this was a poor response from Bethesda and I imagine many Mick Gordon, Bethesda, and DOOM fans are all disappointed. Doubling down is a bad idea for so many reasons, and while Mick responded in kind, I can’t blame him at all for it.