Recently released soundtrack for DOOM Eternal received mixed reviews from the game’s fan base and sparked many heated discussions when it was revealed that out of 59 included tracks only 12 of them were edited and “mixed” by Mick Gordon. Some fans then started directing personal attacks on the Lead Audio Designer at id Software who edited the rest of the tracks. At this point Executive Producer of Doom Eternal, Marty Stratton, took to Reddit with an open letter describing the situation in detail.
When asked on social media about his future with DOOM, Mick has replied, “doubt we’ll work together again.” This was surprising to see, as we have never discussed ending our collaboration with him until now – but his statement does highlight a complicated relationship. Our challenges have never been a matter of creative differences. Mick has had near limitless creative autonomy over music composition and mixing in our recent DOOM games, and I think the results have been tremendous. His music is defining – and much like Bobby Prince’s music was synonymous with the original DOOM games from the 90s, Mick’s unique style and sound have become synonymous with our latest projects. He’s deserved every award won, and I hope his incredible score for DOOM Eternal is met with similar accolades – he will deserve them all.
Talent aside, we have struggled to connect on some of the more production-related realities of development, while communication around those issues have eroded trust. For id, this has created an unsustainable pattern of project uncertainty and risk.
Check out the respective Reddit thread to find the entire open letter and to participate in the discussion.
