Kotaku: Id Software is in trouble, Doom 4 is in trouble, Rage 2 is dead.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Depending on which source you read. Doom 4 has been in production since 2008 if not earlier than that.

 

And according to Kotaku, both Id Software (it's studio) and Doom 4 itself is in trouble... Big trouble. According to their sources, Doom 4 has been cancelled and totally rebuilt, something which has happened several times over.

 

They had a build of Doom 4 which was for the most part complete, however when shown to both Bethesda and Id Software, the game was not 'upto the standards of Bethesda or Id Software' so the project was completely cancelled and production was started again from scratch.

 

Remember this? Not happening. Came from a build before the complete reboot.

 

To give you an idea on how much this had cost and how many man hours lost. Try to imagine 1 person working 40 hours per day, multiply that by 5 then multiply that by however many people were working on the game... then do the same, only include how much you pay those people.

 

The answer? "Thats a lot."

 

It gets better.

 

It turns out that ZeniMax, the people behind Rage were in the process of making Rage 2. However, following critical and public reception, Rage 2 was cancelled and their team began work on Doom 4/Id Softwares projects. Following this move, internal 'politics' now hold this stance.

 

“Doom 4 can and should be as big as Skyrim,” as far as both sales and cultural impact."

 

Pardon? As big as Skyrim? Erm... are they aware that Doom 3 didn't do so great and that the Doom 3 BFG edition wasn't a big hit at all, now they're looking for sales and reception like Skyrim? *insert the voice clip of Doctor Doom yelling "DOOMMMM" from Marvel Vs Capcom 3*

 

Well maybe it's not so bad, what are things like at Id Software? Pretty grim... to quote multiple sources from inside Id Software here...

 

"the direction of the game as a mess, even after the reboot"

 

Larger creature ambitions turned into mediocre garden variety behaviors,” the source said. “[The story] again became lame and unfit for a late night sci-fi channel, and the team didn't feel a whole lot of ownership and contribution to the project. Cue the exodus of talent leaving ever since.”

“Most of [id’s] top talent has left or been fired,”

“ people were leaving steadily through last year,”

“[id was] never even close to a shipped product. A half dozen mediocre levels was the most [id] had to show.”

“It’s not going well, Poor management, poor organization... [id] just couldn’t nail down design... It’s just a mess.”

 

Doom 4? Or Id Software's HQ?

 

The progress of the game has been so bad, that theres no rumors of actual inhouse fighting between Id Software and ZeniMax who have been blaming one another various threats have been set to both teams. One has gone as far to claim that ZeniMax was prepared to shut itself down only to reform and work on game engine tech over Doom 4. Yup, it's that bad.

 

According to Bethesda, Doom 4 is still happening. However it's quality and wether Id Software will survive it doesn't look likely at all if what Kotaku is saying is anywhere near right.

 

Even more at Kotaku.

 

 

 

[Blue Wisp]

... Okay, 2013 might have not been a good year for gaming so far.

[188Eternal]

Personally, I totally disapprove of both DOOM3 and DOOM4 because they are mislabelled and uncalled-for remakes of DOOM1 and DOOM2 respectively.

It would've been better to never bother making them at all if the company is truly out of ideas on how to continue the storyline through authentic sequels. The fandom community has already taken care of updating the original titles to current technology standards for free in numerous forms and numerous times. So ID Software was truly wasting their time for the past decade-and-a-half with their creativity running completely dry.

Edited April 3, 2013 by 188DarkRevived

[SuperLink]

Why.. are they comparing themselves with Skyrim? id revolutionised gaming with Doom, is it that hard for them to just do their own thing like they did back then?

The notion of games needing to be a mega-powerhouse-planetsized-adrenalinepumped-multimilliondollar thing is gonna kill many more devs in the industry. Games just gotta be good man, if it's good people will buy it. You don't have to "look better than cod or skyrim" to make sales, and you don't have to take every page from their design book for your inspiration either.

 

What a worrying year.

[Gregzilla]

GAAAAARHGHRKLH:SKRL:DJF>RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH

 

DAMMIT.  I was so looking forward to Doom 4.  Now I feel like remaining excited is a bad idea.  I was really hoping that Doom 4 would come along, reinvigorate the series, play more like the classics, and show the world how fun an FPS can be.  Now after this crap, I guess I'm just gonna have to let it go.

 

Good thing Bioshock Infinite came along to wow me like it did, otherwise I'd have an FPS-shaped hole in my heart.

[Tornado]

id's problem is that their main moneymaker was always engine development, and Epic has pretty much dominated in that regard since the original Xbox went out of production. Compare all of the massive, high profile games that used the Quake III engine to the handful of ones that used the Doom 3 engine; then compare that to the huge proliferation the Unreal 2 and Unreal 3 engines have had last generation.

[Urban Flow]

Well that stinks. Dammit I was waiting for Doom 4.

[Scott]

Problem Solver: Bring Back Romero!!!

 

But realistically, I always thought the ID-Zenimax alliance would have always been a good thing, but after last year where they re-released Quake 4 with nothing different (other than publisher), I started to worry; it was now all about money, more than it ever was. I enjoyed Doom 3: BFG Edition and I honestly wish it sold better. BFG Edition was only to keep fans interested in Doom and spark new interest in gamers of this current generation. But, a lot of longtime Doom fans might not play games anymore, or may have gave up waiting, so regardless of the amount of work going into this game, even if it's fan-fucking-tastic, I still fear it'll do badly in sales. I'm also afraid of a short campaign and a stupidly-huge focus on Multiplayer.

 

What this game needs is a great lengthy campaign, a well balanced and fun Multiplayer and a great deal or clever advertising. Even then, it might JUST pull through.

 

My faith is with you ID!

 

EDIT: Just had a thought, I know ID are notorious for making FPS games, but I wouldn't mind seeing them try to go for a 3rd person shooter, I mean with the amount of enemies in Doom along with weapons and implementation of a good co-op system, a Doom in the style of Gears of War looks incredible in my head!

Edited April 3, 2013 by Scott

[GEO1452]

Thats sucks for doom fans. But idk Only played doom 3 bfg, was alright, little dated imo

[Patticus]

Doom I don't care for, but I was really looking forward to Rage's DLC, and Rage 2 as well. I got along with the first one so much better than the stupidly dull Fallout 3 and the level-bust-athon that was Borderlands.