Bethesda takes down Thatcher’s Techbase Doom mod again, for ‘disobeying a Zenimax employee’

Bethesda has once again taken down the popular Doom mod Thatcher’s Techbase, claiming that its creator “deliberately (disobeyed) a Zenimax employee.”

Thatcher’s Techbase is a popular satirical mod of the legendary shooter, which infuses references to British politics into the game.

In it, Margaret Thatcher rises from the dead, and the player has to descend into the tenth circle of Hell to kill her again.

When enhanced editions of Doom and Doom 2 were released in August, the games included a built-in mod browser that let players install and play fan-created mods, including Thatcher’s Techbase.

Zenimax soon pulled the mod due to its inclusion of “real-world politics,” but it was re-released in a censored version earlier this week. The rerelease, titled ███████’█ TECHBASE, removed or sarcastically censored all references to real-world politics.

Now its creator Jim Purvis says the mod has once again been pulled from the in-game, Zenimax-controlled mod browser.

“The mod ███████’█ TECHBASE has been reported one or more times for a Code of Conduct violation, real-world politics and deliberately disobeying a Zenimax employee, and has been removed,” a message sent to Purvis by Bethesda reads. “As a result, this account is receiving an official warning.”

While there’s no further information on what “disobeying a Zenimax employee” refers, to it’s possible that it refers to the new mod’s obfuscation of the political content, rather than its complete removal.

The original mod is still available online via non-Zenimax-controlled modding platforms, with all of the original political references included.