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All Articles: Doom (2016)
Quake 5 might be in development at id Software
An announcement was posted on the Bethesda Blog this morning, advertising a variety of job openings at id Software. While the famed development team’s troubles with Doom 4 have been well documented, these new job postings might give us a hint as to what’s in the works within the walls of id Software.
A job posting for a Lead AI Programmer states that prospective applicants would get a chance to work on “legendary id game properties” such as Doom and Quake. The people at id would also like to fill this job with someone who has “Next-Gen console experience,” preferably in the “first person shooter” or “action shooter” genres.
So what can we surmise from all of this? Well, id’s next project is likely the previously announced Doom 4 or the unannounced Quake 5. And if it is Quake 5, it’ll bring the franchise home after the Raven-developed Quake 4 and the Splash Damage-developed Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. It’s a stretch, but it’s rare for job postings to specifically mention titles like this. We also know it’ll be a first person shooter that is likely in development for next-generation consoles in addition to the PC.
Hmm… finding out the next title from id Software is an FPS set in a familiar universe probably isn’t the big scoop I was hoping for.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016), Quake Champions
Development on Doom 4 started over because “it wasn’t Doom 4”
While Bethesda continues to deny that it was ever officially announced (even though it totally was), id Software’s Tim Willits, and Bethesda’s Pete Hines sat down with IGN at this weekend’s QuakeCon to discuss id’s decision to restart development on Doom 4.
According to Willits, Doom 4 has been dragged back to the drawing board because it was a bit schizophrenic. He also said: “Every game has a soul. Every game has a spirit. When you played Rage, you got the spirit. And [Doom 4] did not have the spirit, it did not have the soul, it didn’t have a personality.”
However, Pete Hines was much more to the point. When asked what kind of game Doom 4 was like before its reboot, he replied, “Not Doom 4.”
After a brief pause, Hines continued: “If it was like the quintessential, ‘yup, that’s Doom 4,’ then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But, it was something that we looked at and the id guys looked at and said, look, it’s not even that something is necessarily bad. But is it good enough?”
Neither man would talk about the game’s new direction (Willits only referred to it as id’s “New Project”), but Hines said that id is “pushing the boundaries and challenging themselves.” I’m sure the world expects nothing less from id’s founder, John Carmack.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Doom (2016)
John Carmack: “Doom 4 will be done when it’s done”
John Carmack, id Software’s founder and chief Technical Director, told the assembled masses at this weekend’s QuakeCon that Doom 4 “will be done when it’s done.”
The existence of Doom 4 was confirmed back in 2008 and this vague progress report is nothing new. At one point, parent company Bethesda Softworks even denied the game was ever officially announced.
Work on the title appears to be well underway now though, with Carmack stating that id’s entire mobile team has been tasked with completing Doom 3: BFG Edition. After that game’s October launch, the entire company’s resources will be devoted to the development of Doom 4. Unfortunately, a side effect of these redoubled efforts towards Doom 4’s development will result in the end of mobile game development at id.
However, Carmack also reassured fans that the company will move back into mobile development “at the appropriate time.”
[Source: Game Informer, Polygon]
Rumor: Doom 4 indefinitely postponed; Bethesda denies it was ever announced
A source inside id Software has told Kotaku that Doom 4 has been “indefinitely postponed” after the poor critical and retail reception for Rage. According to the source, the decision was made by executives from parent company Zenimax/Bethesda. This is in spite of the fact that id founder John Carmack told reporters that the developer would remain independent even after its acquisition by the Elder Scrolls publisher.
Pete Hines, Vice President of Bethesda Softworks, responded to Kotaku’s article with a statement declaring that Doom 4 can’t be “postponed” as it was never officially announced:
“We don’t comment on unannounced games and Doom 4 hasn’t been announced (though I appreciate that id has previously referenced Doom 4). Games are done when they are done and no title under development at id has been postponed – indefinitely or otherwise.”
Now wait just a minute! Mr. Hines, I say this with all due respect, but your statement is bullshit. Doom 4 was officially announced in 2008 and numerous interviews with id executives have since confirmed that development is well underway. The Internet never forgets, so it’s unwise to play these kinds of gotcha games with your fans.
That said, this news is still firmly in the rumor territory and as a Doom fan from way back, I hope it’s untrue.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Doom (2016)
id’s Tim Willits on Rage 2, Doom 4, more
On the eve of their first game in seven years, id Software Creative Director Tim Willits sat down with GamesIndustry.biz to discuss the company’s present and future including Rage, Doom 4 and… Rage 2?
On the subject of a Rage sequel, Willits said that DLC for Rage will come first, but the developer did reveal that id plans to begin work on Rage 2 if sales of the first game are good enough:
When I came to see you for the Rage announcement you were already talking about it being a franchise, can developers just not afford to make standalone titles in the current climate?
Willits: You need to make a franchise, especially for us. We’re doing everything we can to turn it into a franchise, “please let it sell so we can make another one!”
So we definitely, from the get go, planned to make this a much bigger franchise, a much richer world, that allows us to have different games, and we can make more mobile games, heck, we could make a social game with Rage if we wanted to. And hopefully we can make a Rage 2. Hopefully.
And what of id’s other major project, Doom 4? Willits revealed that at the time of the game’s 2008 announcement, only one person was working on Doom 4. Apparently, the game’s ultra-early announcement was all a ploy to get resumes:
Willits: We had to say that we were hiring folks [for Doom 4], so we had a long internal debate and we were like “why don’t we just tell people?” So we said we were hiring, but at that point we only had one guy working on it. But it was the best way to get resumes, because everybody wants to work on a Doom game.
So Rage will be available this Tuesday, Doom 4 is in the works for some time after and Rage 2 will come out in the far future… hopefully.
Update on Doom 4… sort of
It seems that Doom 4 has been on the backburner lately with everyone’s focus on id Software’s new game coming out in October, Rage. But with Quakecon 2011 going on, people are curious about Doom 4.
Todd Hollenshead, President of id Software, had this to say: “Id Tech 5 is the basis for Doom 4, and I guess infer what you will… What we’re really focused on is getting Rage out the door. Once we’re to that point, then we want to transition to how we’re going to present Doom 4, what are the talking points, how do we introduce it. Because that stuff hasn’t even been determined yet. We’re talking about that internally.”
He added: “I know everybody’s interested. I am too.”
Huh. Thanks for the, uh… update? Hey, at least Rage looks awesome.
[Source: IGN]