Doom 4, Rage 2, its just sequels everywhere today. One is alive and kicking, while the other has been kicked to the corner of the room and moaned at for not being good enough. Take a guess who’s who in this poorly conceived metaphor I’m attempting here?

That’s right, Doom 4 is back and apparently it’s heading to next-gen. Not that the idea of Doom 4 ever really left the minds of iD Software. Apparently the game needed a restructure after early testers gave it the nickname “Call of Doom”, with the game’s early mechanics apparently making it extremely similar to modern shooters. Bethesda’s VP of marketing and public relations Pete Hines spoke to Kotaku about early builds of Doom 4.

“An earlier version of Doom 4 did not exhibit the quality and excitement that Id and Bethesda intend to deliver and that Doom fans worldwide expect. As a result, Id refocused its efforts on a new version of Doom 4 that promises to meet the very high expectations everyone has for this game and this franchise. When we’re ready to talk about the Doom 4 Id is making, we will let folks know.”

Far less surprising is the fact that iD Software has cancelled work on Rage 2, the sequel to the rather average shooter the studio released less than two years ago. Apparently all the developers working on the sequel have now moved to the Doom 4 project, which has now been going for 5 years.

Doom 4 was first announced in 2008, with the project going dark for a few years leading up to the release of Rage. Just before release, Id president Todd Hollenshead stated that the studio was focused on getting rage finished before putting all their effort into Doom 4. The project is now apparently slated for next-gen consoles and PC’s, but the release date is still something everyone is sucking out of their thumb.

But hey, at least we know Doom hasn’t fallen through the cracks just yet. Hopefully we’ll see something worthwhile soon, maybe even at E3 this year. Yeah, I wouldn’t hold my breath either.

eGamer