Zenimax orders popular Doom fan game to shut down

Zenimax, who own such companies as Bethesda Softworks, Arkane Studios and iD Software, has ordered a popular Doom fan-game to remove all references to the Doom IP – which they own.

The game, DoomRL, is a roguelike take on the Doom world, supposed to create shorter and more digestible adventures for the avid monster-killer. Creator, Kornel Kisielewicz, revealed the email to him, “threatening legal action”, on Twitter last night. After being encouraged to comply from various fans and followers, Kisielewicz stated that changing all the various references and sprites of the Doom series “isn’t that easy.”

This isn’t the first time Zenimax has been caught up in some branding squabbles. A rather notorious example was Zenimax’s lawsuit against Mojang, the developer’s of Minecraft, who, when they revealed their new game was called Scrolls, were sued for infringing on The Elder Scrolls’ copyright – a rather frivolous affair.

This isn’t entirely the same however. DoomRL doesn’t just partially use the same name; it uses entire areas which belong to another IP. But then again, that is exactly what a fan game is. In fact, comparisons could be drawn to Nintendo’s taking down of Pokemon Uranium and AM2R just earlier this month – as well as forcing them to be removed from The Game Awards’ “Best Fan Game” award.

Whatever your opinion on whether fan game’s are allowed, illegal or whether it is in Zenimax’s right to do this, we can all admit this is a weird one. First of all, if you weren’t aware, DoomRL has been around since 2003, long before Zenimax even owned the rights to Doom – that is a long-time to wait before going after this particular fan game.

The original Doom itself was shareware free and has one of the largest and most successful range of mods, modders and map creators, continuing to this day. It could very well be argued that Doom was as powerful as it was due to the staying power users mods allowed it to have. In fact, and possibly oddest of all, Brutal Doom 64, a popular Doom mod was nominated for “Best Fan Creation” at this year’s VGA’s and was openly endorsed by iD Software, the creator’s and developer’s of Doom – and are owned by Zenimax.

When contacted by Kotaku, Kisielewicz told them “DoomRL has been around since 2003, it’s worth at least to let it go with a bang.”

Kornel Kisielewicz is currently Kickstarting a spiritual successor to DoomRL, Jupiter Hell – this time IP free. It currently has 11 days left to go with £23,560 left to be funded. So, if you did want to support the creator of a rather marvelous mod, this would be the way to go.