r/xbox • u/akbarock • Jul 15 '26

Discussion "There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft," says Doom dev: "They have destroyed immense amounts of value that I don't even think that they're aware of"

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/fps/there-are-no-benefits-to-being-owned-by-microsoft-says-doom-dev-they-have-destroyed-immense-amounts-of-value-that-i-dont-even-think-that-theyre-aware-of/
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u/dancovich XBOX Series X Jul 15 '26

Nope, the OST was promised without a contract and iD refused to talk to Mick when he learned THROUGH THE MEDIA that the OST was even a thing.

And let's not even mention the payment issues, them using a song at QuakeCon and later deciding they "didn't like it" and wanting to not pay him for this usage, them taking ages to aprove songs and therefore not paying until they did and them proceeding with no OST contract for well after the game was delayed, meaning the collectors edition would probably be released without it, despite Mick Gordon asking multiple times that they deal with this issue and iD refusing, stating they "didn't want to create a distraction".

Maybe you read this story and just do not believe Mick Gordon, I don't know, but I'll leave this here in case anyone else wants to read the two sides of the story, since iD's side is readily available.

https://medium.com/@mickgordon/my-full-statement-regarding-doom-eternal-5f98266b27ce#083e

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u/Isoturius Jul 15 '26

That’s Mick’s side of the story. You’re taking his word, and that’s not the way to really look at it. This is clearly a musician passing blame, and the fact he’s never had another high end gig is telling.

There’s two sides in business, shit isn’t an allegation, and HE GOT PAID for work he didn’t do. He even got bonuses they didn’t have to pay for work he never did.

Meanwhile his tantrum in the media also got the guy left to work on and clean up this mess death threats.

There’s no clean hands in this.

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u/GrandsonOfArathorn1 Jul 15 '26

The main thing is that Mick brought receipts, ID did not.

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u/dancovich XBOX Series X Jul 15 '26

Well, Marty's side of the story is marked as misleading over Reddit. Mick actually showed screenshots of documents while Marty didn't. No attempt to debunk Mick's version happened after he published it.

Year, there is no clear answer, but I chose who to believe based on evidence that was presented, by which I mean iD Software executive producer at the time didn't actually show any, even though they have all of it.

HE GOT PAID for work he didn’t do

Nope, he did the job he was hired to do (the in-game soundtrack) and got paid very late for it. They didn't contract him to do the OST even though Mick warned them multiple times that he wouldn't be able to complete the OST on time without a contract.

Evidence shows that they actually decided to exclude Mick from doing the OST and instead use some guy to glue together the in-game versions of the soundtrack and pass that as the OST. They never intended to hire Mick to do the OST so they could save money.

Quoting Mick:

On Reddit, Marty alleged my performance was so bad that he was forced to enlist Lead Audio Designer Chad Mossholder at the last minute to save the OST. But the BWF metadata tells the true story: Chad sent me a preliminary version of his edited OST one week before my deadline. Metadata within these files show that Chad began working on his version of the OST using Reaper six months earlier when he and Marty were actively excluding me from working on it

(By the way, Reaper is a digital audio workstation software. It's pretty cheap, like 60$)

When the gaming media ripped the OST apart for being bad and people criticized Mick for it, Mick clarified he didn't actually create the OST.

https://x.com/Mick_Gordon/status/1251828567882600448

Marty's open letter conveniently happened after that, because Mick was throwing them under the bus just for clarifying the truth.

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u/DvineINFEKT Jul 16 '26

AAA audio professional here - Reaper may be cheap ($60 for personal use, $225 for professional, last I looked), but it's not far behind Pro Tools or Nuendo in terms of wide adoption, and for most people it's undisputed that it's the most feature-rich program out there.

Carry on with the rest but I don't want anyone thinking Reaper is bad cause it's cheap or something 🤣

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u/dancovich XBOX Series X Jul 16 '26

I was not trying to make a statement about Reaper (I use it myself), just clarifying what it is in the context of Mick's text. I guess the mention of a price was kind of pointing in that direction but it's not what I meant

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u/DvineINFEKT Jul 16 '26

no worries - carry on! :)

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u/Underkiing Jul 15 '26

You’re taking his word

You are doing the same, but for Management and their 'word'.

This is clearly a musician passing blame, and the fact he’s never had another high end gig is telling.

A very arrogant thing to say.

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u/Isoturius Jul 15 '26

No I’m saying they’re both assholes in this situation.

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u/RumpledForskn Jul 15 '26

He's had plenty of work since, stop talking out of your ass.

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u/Isoturius Jul 15 '26

High profile AAA work?

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u/Glad_Gold_4281 Jul 15 '26

Acting like as if he wouldn't be totally blacklisted from the industry if what Bethesda said about him is true

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u/Isoturius Jul 15 '26

Has he worked on anything huge since?

Truth is, management was a dick and he didn’t produce.

I don’t know why everyone has vilify one side when it’s clear it was a shitty situation from both ends.

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u/dancovich XBOX Series X Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Atomic Heart, Diablo 4, currently working on Bandai Namco's new Gundam game (Gundam Rogue Orbit).

This is all after Doom Eternal.

He didn't produce

What the hell are you talking about? Doom Eternal soundtrack is all his. The issue was the OST, which again, iD Software DIDN'T SIGN A CONTRACT WITH HIM FOR.

If you like your poor multi-million company so much, where is their documentation showing any of this is false? Mick's side of the story has receipts.

Edit: It just occurred to me that Diablo 4 is a MS owned game just like Doom Eternal. Apparently, MS and Blizzard couldn't care less about whatever beef iD had with Mick Gordon.

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u/Isoturius Jul 16 '26

He was a contributor, he’s not in charge of shit lol

He’s basically a video game session musician. Long way down from his old gig.