The Doom series is considered by many to be the godfather of all of first-person shooters, spawning a loyal fanbase, multiple installments, and “doom clones” since its birth in 1993. News of its re-release on multiple platforms is welcome news for fans from multiple generations.
The announcement of the wide re-release came during QuakeCon 2019. The original Doom trilogy – Doom, Doom 2, and Doom 3 – is now currently available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and iOS and Android mobile devices.
DOOM, DOOM II, and DOOM 3 are all available right now on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4! DOOM and DOOM II are also available on iOS and Android. #DOOM25 #QuakeCon pic.twitter.com/gJD36QwKTV
— Bethesda (@bethesda) July 26, 2019
The re-release of the trilogy was made to coincide with the celebration of the titular franchise’s 25th anniversary of the first game’s release. However, the celebration was cut short after buyers of the trilogy found out that a Bethesda.net account was required to enjoy the game, which is simply ironic. The original Doom games did not utilize any features that required Internet access, so why should the re-release steer away from that?
Since then, Bethesda has reversed this decision whilst justifying their initial choice of requiring a BethesdaNet log-in through this tweet:
Update on our new classic DOOM releases:
— Bethesda (@bethesda) July 27, 2019
The BethesdaNet login requirement was included for the Slayers Club, to reward members for playing the classic DOOM games.
The login should be optional, and we are working on changing the requirement to optional now.
Bethesda’s promised fix is currently on the way, but that’s not stopping fans from roasting the publisher online by posting other classic games with a photoshopped “log in required” message. It’s become something of a meme over the past few days, with people layering over the BethesdaNet text prompt for a log-in onto other older titles. As of today, no date has been confirmed yet as to when the fix will be rolled out.
In addition to these rereleases, a PEGI rating was recently uncovered pointing to an upcoming release of Doom 64 for the PC and PlayStation 4.
Either way, this should just be small hiccup for Bethesda and the Doom franchise. The main focus is still on the upcoming first-person shooter Doom Eternal, for which we already received gameplay footage along with news of the highly anticipated Battle Mode. As for the re-release, all titles in the Doom trilogy are currently available on the aforementioned platforms’ online stores. Doom and Doom 2 cost $4.99 and Doom 3 costs $9.99.
