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Bethesda sues over Doom memecoin promoted by series designer Sandy Petersen

Legal action targets $DOOM and Doomsol, a crypto scheme that turned a legendary designer into its promoter before the rug pull.

newest coverage 1d agosummary written 1d ago4 pieces1 likes & upvotes NewswiresRedditMastodon

What to know

  • Sandy Petersen, a legendary Doom designer, heavily promoted a memecoin ($DOOM) and Doomsol (a play-to-earn Doom game) starting August 3, posting videos of his purchases and gameplay.
  • The memecoin creator executed a rug pull within 24 hours, crashing the token price; Petersen's promotional video was also exposed as using Freedoom footage instead of actual Doomsol gameplay.
  • Bethesda is now suing the Doomsol creators for violating the Doom license by profiting from the IP without authorization—the license permits creative reuse but not commercial exploitation.
  • Petersen's exact role in both the memecoin and the game remains unclear, though he is listed as Doomsol's creator and his son claimed he was being paid for level design work.

“While Bethesda allows fans to reuse the Doom licence for creative purposes, this IP is not to be used for personal financial gain.”

Polygon, Gaming publication · Polygon ↗

Sandy Petersen Legendary Doom designer and memecoin promoterArthur Petersen Sandy Petersen's sonBethesda Doom IP rights holderFreedoom Fan-made Doom mod project

Bethesda sues over Doom memecoin promoted by series designer Sandy Petersen
polygon.com

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

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Sep 22yesterdaynow · 3:47 AM ET
  1. 1

    Bethesda takes legal action against Doomsol creators

    Bethesda initiated legal proceedings against the creator of Doomsol, citing breach of the Doom license terms. The publisher stated the project violated restrictions on using Doom IP for personal financial gain. Bethesda has not publicly identified the specific target of legal papers, though Petersen is listed as the game's creator on the archived Doomsol website.

    “a risk of confusion around affiliation or endorsement…”
    — Bethesda representative

    1. 2 outlets first by Kotaku, 2d ago · also Polygon · read ↗

    • Bethesda goes after memecoin creator for exploiting Doom IP https://www. polygon.com/doom-memecoin-sand y-petersen-bethesda-legal-action/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into Gaming @ gaming-polygon

      polygon@flipboard.comMastodon1d ago1▲view on Mastodon ↗
  2. background

    Petersen briefly re-promotes $DOOM amid revival attempts, then goes silent — At the end of August, Petersen mentioned the project again as others claiming to work on Doomsol attempted to revive it. Despite a brief price jump, the coin never recovered to original levels and both Petersens went quiet again shortly after.

  3. background

    Memecoin creator pulls the rug; Petersen's Doomsol video exposed as Freedoom — The memecoin's creator abandoned the project, causing the $DOOM token price to tank. Additionally, the Freedoom fan project publicly distanced itself after discovering Petersen had used their project footage in promotional material. Freedoom's official account declared they did not endorse the scheme.

  4. background

    Petersen promotes Doomsol gameplay and continued token investment — Petersen continued posting promotional content for the $DOOM token and Doomsol game over several days, at one point claiming the game had thousands of players. His son Arthur Petersen also became involved, sharing posts that indicated Sandy was being paid for designing Doom levels.

  5. background

    Sandy Petersen launches $DOOM memecoin promotion with X videos — The legendary Doom designer posted a video in a Doom T-shirt promoting the $DOOM memecoin on the Fomo trading platform, showing himself purchasing over $187 worth of the token. Later the same day he posted another video investing an additional $1000, and unveiled Doomsol, a browser-based Doom game that allows players to earn Sol cryptocurrency.