DOOM Eternal rode in this March, ripping and tearing with the best of ’em. It seems to have been quite the sales success for Bethesda and id Software, and solidified this new breed of DOOM as a beast in its own right. One major part of that has been the music, the harsh metal tones of both Eternal and the 2016 reboot. But it seems that the newest game’s continuation could sound very different, since Bethesda and the reboot series’ Composer have parted ways.
In a lengthy open letter by Executive Producer Marty Stratton on Reddit (you can read excepts below or read the full thing here), it’s confirmed that they will not be working with composer Mick Gordon going forward. This is in response to some issues Gordon had with how the official soundtrack release was mixed, which was criticism that was rather vague, but it was unmistakable he wasn’t too happy with the release.
Stratton says he respects Gordon’s work and contribution to Eternal, but says there were several issues here, such as Gordon pushing for deadline extensions for the OST in the Deluxe Edition close to the March release (with the game already suffering a significant delay). Stratton brought in a backup in the studio’s lead audio designer, Chad Mossholder, to make sure the date was made, which seems to have been where the key friction happened, as it resulted in an OST that was half-and-half between the two.
“It would have been misleading for us to attribute tracks solely to Mick that someone else had edited,” writes Stratton.
“[Gordon] communicated that he wasn’t particularly happy with some of the edits in the id tracks,” he continued. “I understand this from an artist’s perspective and realize this opinion is what prompted him to distance from the work in the first place. That said, from our perspective, we didn’t want to be involved in the content of the OST and did absolutely nothing to prevent him from delivering on his commitments within the timeframe he asked for, and we extended multiple times.
“As for the immediate future, we are at the point of moving on and won’t be working with Mick on the DLC we currently have in production. As I’ve mentioned, his music is incredible, he is a rare talent, and I hope he wins many awards for his contribution to DOOM Eternal at the end of the year.”
As it stands, Mick Gordon has not issued a statement or response. The game is scheduled to get DLC, though there is no timeframe for when that is coming. Whatever it is, don’t be surprised if it sounds at least a tad different.
