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Doom — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Classic series (1992–1997)

The development of the original Doom started in 1992, when John Carmack developed a new game engine, the Doom engine, while the rest of the id Software team finished the Wolfenstein 3D prequel, Spear of Destiny. The game launched in an episodic format in 1993, with the first episode available as shareware and two more episodes available by mail order. The first episode was largely designed by John Romero. The title proved extremely popular, with the full version of the game selling one million copies. The term "Doom clone" became the name for the new genre now known as first-person shooters for several years.

Doom II: Hell on Earth was released in 1994 in a commercial format. Only minor changes were made at a technical level; the game featured new enemies, a new "Super Shotgun" weapon, and more complex levels. The game was followed by an expansion in 1995, titled Master Levels for Doom II, which added 20 additional levels. A fourth episode was added to the original game by the 1995 re-release.

From 1995 id Software were focused on the development of the new Quake series, which would be developed by the company throughout the late 1990s. Two additional games would be released over the following years, largely created by third-party developers under id's supervision. The first of these was Final Doom, which featured 64 levels based on the Doom II engine, organised into two episodes. TNT: Evilution was developed by the modding group TeamTNT and completed in November 1995, while the second episode The Plutonia Experiment was developed by TNT's Dario and Milo Casali and completed in January 1996.

Midway Games developed Doom 64 under id supervision for release in 1997. The title featured a new engine, with larger sprites and higher quality textures. The technical changes allowed for greater flexibility with the level design, such as the ability to adjust the geometry of the map during play. The classic metal soundtrack was replaced for a more ambient and eerie soundtrack, creating a unique atmosphere that would inspire future entries. Id did not allow the title to be called Doom 3, as the name was being reserved for a potential return to the franchise after the development of Quake.

Doom 3 and cancelled fourth game (2000–2013)

The troubled development of Quake had resulted in major staffing changes at id by 2000, with a number of key figures from the development of Doom having departed. This included the original designer John Romero, who was fired in 1996. In the interim, the company had hired former Doom modder Tim Willits. By 2000 a new non-Doom game was being designed, but id staff had a "lack of enthusiasm" for the project, and strongly desired to remake the original Doom instead. John Carmack, among others, announced internally that they were working on a Doom game- and would continue to do so unless the company fired them. While Paul Steed was indeed fired, work on the game did continue.

The title was unveiled later that year as Doom 3. The design of the title would be led by Willits. Using the new id Tech 4 engine, numerous technical improvements were made over the classic series, allowing greater realism and interactivity. The game used voice acting and featured a greater focus on narrative than earlier titles. A demo of the game was shown at E3 2002 and was subsequently leaked online, well ahead of the 2004 release date. At the time, it was the first Doom title in seven years, and helped renew interest in the franchise. An expansion, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil was released in 2005. Unlike the base game, the expansion was developed by Nerve Software. A 2012 BFG Edition featured both previous releases along with a new expansion entitled The Lost Mission. A version of Doom 3: BFG Edition called Doom 3: VR Edition was released on March 29, 2021, for the PlayStation 4 VR and PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility. It includes all of the content from Doom 3: BFG Edition (the main campaign, Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Mission), except for multiplayer.

Doom 4 entered development in the mid 2000s alongside Rage, with the new Doom title initially planned as a rework of Doom II. Hints were present in 2007 at QuakeCon, and the game was formally announced in 2008. Response to preview material was negative, with fans nicknaming the project "Call of Doom", after a perceived similarity to the Call of Duty franchise. Bethesda marketing vice president Pete Hines stated in retrospect that "it wasn't Doom enough". After Rage was not as successful as hoped, publisher ZeniMax requested a reboot of Doom 4 and moved the Rage staff over to the new project. This version was built using Rage's code base and suffered from disputes among staff, particularly among managers of the two projects. The game was cancelled in 2013. John Carmack, one of the few remaining veterans from the development of the classic series still present at id, left the studio that November.

The period saw the release of several spinoffs for mobile platforms. These included Doom RPG (2005), Doom II RPG (2009), and Doom Resurrection (2009). Additionally, the 2010 Xbox Live Arcade re-release of Doom II featured a new expansion entitled No Rest for the Living, which was developed by Nerve Software. This was structured in a similar manner to classic Doom chapters, with eight primary levels and one secret level. This release was packaged with the BFG Edition of Doom 3 in 2012.

Revival series (2013–present)

After the 2013 scrapping of the Doom 4 project, Willits stated that the next game in the Doom series was still the team's focus. Hugo Martin was hired as creative director that year and would go on to be a key figure in the revived franchise. The game was announced simply as Doom in 2014. It was released to generally positive reception in 2016, with a glory kill mechanic and additional platforming manoeuvres among the main gameplay additions. The game's multiplayer mode received three small downloadable content releases over the course of the first year, and all three were then released for free with the 6.66 update on July 19, 2017.

The 2016 series was not originally described as a continuation or origin story of earlier games, however plot details in the sequel Doom Eternal and commentary from Martin would later describe it as a continuation of the classic series. The 2020 re-release of Doom 64 included an expansion entitled The Lost Levels, intended "to connect 'old' Doom to 'new' Doom".

A VR spinoff entitled Doom VFR was released in 2017 to generally positive reception. The game features a single-player campaign, and reused enemies and other assets from the 2016 game. The game would be the last Doom title under Willits' leadership, ahead of his departure in 2019. 2018 marked the 25th anniversary of the franchise, and saw the Doom Slayer included as a playable character in id Software's Quake Champions. That year, John Romero announced Sigil, an unofficial "fifth episode" of the original 1993 game. The episode was released for free via Romero's website in 2019, with a paid version available that included a soundtrack by guitarist Buckethead. While Sigil was developed independently, Bethesda added the episode to the console ports of Doom as a free patch in October, alongside the two chapters of Final Doom.

The next main entry in the franchise, Doom Eternal, was directed by Hugo Martin and released in 2020. The title sold very well, generating $450 million in revenue over the first year; double the launch revenue of the previous title. Some commentators cited the timing of the release, which coincided with a wave of interest in gaming worldwide amid restrictions on social gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic. The game was made in id Tech 7, which afforded numerous technical improvements over the id Tech 6 engine used by its predecessor. An expansion of the game, The Ancient Gods, was released in two parts, one in October 2020 and the other in March 2021.

Romero confirmed in August 2021 that a second Sigil expansion using the Doom II engine was in development. In March 2022, he released a new Doom II level entitled One Humanity. The proceeds from the level were donated as humanitarian aid for Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. The level was the first for Doom II designed by Romero since 1994, and raised 25,000 euros by March 7. Romero released Sigil II in 2023 and was critically acclaimed. Like its predecessor, Id Software made the chapter freely available through the add-ons menu of the console ports of Doom and Doom II. A spin-off for mobile platforms Android and iOS, Mighty Doom, was developed by Alpha Dog Games and released in March 2023. Microsoft announced that it was shutting down Alpha Dog in May 2024; this resulted in the discontinuation of Mighty Doom in August.

In August 2024, id Software in collaboration with Nightdive Studios and MachineGames released Doom + Doom II, a "definitive rerelease" of all the pre-Doom 64 games alongside Sigil and a new 2 episode expansion pack called Legacy of Rust. The release features new enemies and weapons.

In March 2021, Hugo Martin discussed some directions future Doom titles could take, discussing time travel or a game set in the time span between Doom 64 and Doom (2016), when the Doom Slayer "first came to that place with the Sentinels, almost like a more medieval setting". An internal ZeniMax presentation, dated to 2020 and released as part of the FTC v. Microsoft case in 2023, indicated that a game entitled Doom: Year Zero was in development at that time, with a projected release in FY2023. DLC for the title was also marked for 2023 and 2024. The document was produced prior to Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax in 2021, but the game remained in production and was revealed at the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase as Doom: The Dark Ages.

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Doom across IJR

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Overview

Development and history

Classic series (1992–1997)

Doom 3 and cancelled fourth game (2000–2013)

Revival series (2013–present)

Games

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Tabletop games

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Doom across IJR