On May 15th id Software released the newest entry into their storied DOOM franchise titled DOOM: The Dark Ages, and in only 5 days since launch, the game has ripped and torn its way to becoming the “biggest launch” in the studio’s history.
In a recent post on publisher Bethesda’s social media, it was revealed that this “biggest launch” for id Software was in reference to the 3 million players who have given the game a shot just in the last week, making it the most played game during the initial launch window in the studio’s 34-year history.
According to Bethesda, DOOM: The Dark Ages has managed this historic accomplishment for the studio 7 times faster than the 2020 release of the previous entry in the series, DOOM Eternal. Of course, with the game’s day one inclusion on Xbox and PC Game Pass there will have certainly been a much larger player base to begin with, but this makes the feat no-less impressive within such a short window of time since release.
Though this is an impressive feat for any studio, it is still important to note that this number only identifies the player count and not total sales. We don’t currently know if the game is selling all that well, but with the game being enjoyed on PlayStation and PC as well as Xbox and PC Game Pass, it’s fair to assume that it at least wasn’t a total commercial failure.
Sales numbers will probably become public around the time of Microsoft’s quarterly earnings calls, at which point we can stop speculating. Regardless of whether or not it was through sales or subscription services, any game that can pull in 3 million players in under a week is something to celebrate, and DOOM: The Dark Ages did just that.
Congratulations to id Software and Bethesda on their successful launch!
