Bethesda Declares War on Doom-themed Cryptocurrency
Bethesda has taken action against Sandy Petersen, a former Doom designer, over the memecoin $DOOM and the browser project Doomsol, both promoted by Petersen. Petersen had supported the project on social media in August, sharing videos showing him buying tokens and posting about creating new episodes for Doomsol. However, the cryptocurrency’s value plummeted sharply shortly afterward, raising numerous questions about the structure behind the project and Petersen’s exact role.
Bethesda Initiates Legal Proceedings for Doomsol
Doomsol was promoted as a project that allowed players to earn SOL, the cryptocurrency of the Solana network, while experiencing a Doom-like experience through a browser. The archived website lists Sandy Petersen as the creator of the project, but it’s unclear whether he directly created the $DOOM memecoin. Petersen and his son Arthur are known to have actively promoted the project.
Things quickly got complicated. It turned out that one of the videos Petersen shared, presented as Doomsol, actually showed the independent Freedoom project. The Freedoom team also stated that they had no connection to the project and did not support the promotion of cryptocurrency. Following this, the value of $DOOM rapidly dropped, and rumors emerged that the project’s original developer had withdrawn.
Petersen argued that Doom’s open-source license made the project legally secure. However, while the open-source license allows for the development of new projects on the Doom engine, the unauthorized use of the Doom logo and commercial assets is not considered within the same scope. The use of official Doom assets on the Doomsol website is also one of the points Bethesda objects to.
Bethesda confirmed that its legal representatives contacted the person behind Doomsol but did not disclose the contents of the document sent. The company says its aim is not to block fan projects; it wants to prevent players from confusing official Doom products with third-party commercial projects.
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