X-bit labs

id Software Announces Development of Doom 4 Video Game.

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 05/07/2008 | 04:53 PM ]

id Software, the developer of such video games as Doom and Quake as well as the company that licenses popular video engines to other game makers, on Wednesday said it had begun development of the Doom 4 title and was seeking for new workforce. The new title promises to bring “hell on earth”, but there are questions whether it would become popular and would use id’s latest id Tech 5 rendering engine.

“Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth. It’s critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles,” said Todd Hollenshead, chief executive of id Software.

The game developer stressed that it was expanding its internal team and was hiring to work on the highly anticipated title. Earlier the company has never published official releases about hiring of game developers, which may indicate that the company is now creating a larger team of developers to create new game titles faster.

id Software has not released a single in-house developed game for nearly four years now after the Doom 3 title was launched. Still, Quake 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars created by Raven Software and Splash Damage, respectively, made it to the market in 2005 and 2007.

Last year id Software demonstrated its completely new title Rage as well as rendering engine called id Tech 5 developed internally from the ground up. The new game engine, supports Microsoft Windows-based PCs, Apple Macintosh computers running Mac OS as well as popular game consoles – Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3.

id has not unveiled any information regarding the Doom 4 as well as the destiny of the title called Rage. It was also unclear at press time whether Doom 4 utilizes id Tech 5 rendering engine.

“We are looking for talented, ambitious and passionate individuals eager to join our accomplished team of developers working on the industry’s most innovative and anticipated games,” the company said in the statement.

What is not completely clear is how id Software plans to popularize its Doom 4 titles several years from now. When the original Doom was released in 1993, the majority of customers to play it were 15+ years old teens. When the Doom 4 hits the stores, about two years from now in the best case scenario, those gamers will be 32+ years old and hardly really interested in playing such video games. Meanwhile, so-called “Internet generation” (born circa 1991 and later) hardly feel nostalgia towards old-school Doom titles, but are more familiar with newer online games.