Random House sued over Doom biography

Michael Wilson, the former COO of Ion Storm, is taking book publisher Random House to court over allegations that a biography of id Software contains libellous statements.

Masters of Doom, written by David Kushner and first published in 2003, tells the story of how John Carmack and John Romero came to create the popular Doom series of games and found id Software.

One passage in the book is said to allege that Wilson used unscrupulous business tactics to purchase a BMW with company funds.

Wilson, who is currently establishing a new company under the name of Gamecock Media Group following the dissolution of Ion Storm by Eidos, denies any such suggestion and is suing Random House as a result.

"There's nothing they could have possibly said that could be more damaging," he stated.

"This is an industry publication read almost exclusively by my peers in the industry."

Wilson went on to argue that the allegations "were made with actual malice knowing that such statements were false, or with reckless disregard for the truth." He also claims that the book has damaged his reputation and caused him "shame, humiliation and mental anguish."

Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum responded: "Although our company policy generally is not to comment on pending litigation, we will make an exception this time because the facts here so strongly support our author, whose Masters of Doom has been widely praised by many book reviewers for its meticulous research.

"Should the prospective plaintiff choose to pursue this action, our expectation is that the court will find this claim completely without legal merit and factually baseless."

As reported previously, a film adaptation of Masters of Doom is currently in production for cable channel Showtime. It's not yet known if the lawsuit will affect the film.