A New Doom Game May Finally Be On The Way, But There’s A Huge Catch

A new game in the series might be on the horizon, but there's one potential aspect of its release that could end up being a problem for some fans. Few game franchises have a legacy comparable to, which rocked the market as a violent leap ahead in FPS design when the first game was released in 1993. The games have managed to evolve and grow without ever losing the tight design and fast-paced action that made them stand out, and the rebooted version of the franchise that kicked off with the 2016 version of has proven especially effective.

At the moment, the last major release was 2020's , which built on the 2016 foundation while upping the amount of fast-paced platforming involved. The series hasn't been idle since, with DLC expansions, new versions of old titles, and the mobile game filling the gap. The not-quite-four-year-window that passed between and has already come and gone again, however, so the itch for another mainline game is definitely starting to be felt.

ID Software's land mark first-person shooter franchises, DOOM, Wolfenstein, and Quake, are often credited with creating the genre, but did they?

As reported by, the big news for comes in the form of a pending trademark under the title of , a cheat code made famous by the original. Following up on some prior leaks, this is a good sign that a game is in the works. This entry would be the first release since the series has fallen under Microsoft ownership, however, which could very well end up making it an Xbox exclusive thanks to this change.

The studio behind the games, id Software, came under the ownership of Bethesda Softworks parent ZeniMax in 2009, a shift that happened during the extended development hell that turned into the 2016 game. With Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax in 2021, anything that id makes now falls under the larger umbrella.

Leveraging IP exclusivity was clearly a major motivating factor for the acquisition, as showcased by the Xbox-only console release of Bethesda's.