New Doom dropped multiplayer so developers could make a deeper solo game

You get multiplayer... or you get a first-person shooter that also lets you pilot a dragon and a 30-story mech.

The most unusual thing about the announcement of Doom: The Dark Ages last June was the omission of one word that’s been associated with the series for the past 30 years: multiplayer.

It wasn’t a mistake. And it doesn’t appear to be a set-up for a future reveal for this newest game in the series that pioneered the PvP death-match.

Instead, developers at Doom studio id Software confirmed to Game File and other members of the media earlier this week that The Dark Ages, set to release on May 15, is a campaign-only single-player PC, PlayStation and Xbox game.

No death-matches this time.

The developers said that focusing on making a single-player game has enabled them to make a better game. They gestured at the tradeoffs that studios make when deciding which parts of a game to build—and the pitfalls that occur when a studio puts too many features in a game.

“Strictly campaign,” Dark Ages creative director Hugo Martin said during a video-streamed live Q&A with press and influencers. He’d been asked if there was any multiplayer or was strictly single-player.

“We made that decision early so that we could really just go all-in on the campaign,” he said. " It's our largest, most expansive, most epic campaign ever. And we're just really happy with the decision. And I think it's been awesome to have the team focused just on polishing and finishing the campaign.”

The game’s executive producer, Marty Stratton, made the cost-benefit analysis even more explicit. The new game’s campaign doesn’t just feature a grand first-person adventure played from ground level but an extensive amount of gameplay built around the player flying around on a dragon, and epic sequences that involve commanding a massive, 30-story walking mech.

“These were things we wanted to do in the game for like multiple games now, but couldn't because we had a multiplayer component, which we loved,” Stratton said, referring to missed opportunities in The Dark Ages’ predecessors. “But, really, it was meant to just focus on the single player campaign and, and just level up that experience for players.”

Martin and Stratton’s comments might be refreshing for those who recall the 2010s industry phase during which seemingly every big game—even those from perfectly good single-player franchises such as BioShock, Batman Arkham and Assassin’s Creed—added “unnecessary” competitive multiplayer modes.

Dropping multiplayer from Doom, however, is startling, given the franchise’s status as the pioneer of the multiplayer death-match starting with the iconic first Doom in 1993.

It is, perhaps, a hint about the relative success of the multiplayer modes in id’s critically acclaimed 2016 Doom reboot and the well-regarded March 2020 sequel Doom Eternal. Both games are lionized for the exciting combat systems that fuel their solo campaign modes.

What Doom: The Dark Ages actually does contain seem impressive—with the caveat that major video games with big budgets behind them often look impressive during their preview showcases. The game has…

• A continuation of the successful combat system from the 2016 reboot that mixed gunplay with melee, though with more of a stand-and-fight approach than the reboot or Eternal. The developers likened the combat of Eternal to making players feel like a “fighter jet” but in this game more of an “iron tank.”

• A lot of emphasis on exploring a giant world through broadly explorable levels–”the largest play space ever in a Doom game”--full of discoverable secrets and treasures.

• More story told via gameplay and cutscenes, vs. the prior games’ heavy use of text logs. This game’s a prequel to the 2016 reboot.

• Extreme demon-slaying violence, if that’s your thing! (You can throw a shield that has a saw’s edge; swing a mace; etc).

Unanswered questions

My preview of Doom: The Dark Ages was conducted via a live, moderated video chat with Martin and Stratton. Reporters like me could submit questions via a text window and hope it would be approved and asked.

I asked three questions:

Is there a multiplayer mode? If not, why not?

• This question was not approved, nor asked, but a subsequent multiplayer question from another attendee was asked and answered.

Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal were released for Switch. Any plans to release Doom: The Dark Ages on Switch 2 in the future?

• This question was not approved, nor asked. Not surprising. No publishers are talking about their Switch 2 plans yet.

Games and gameplay involving riding a dragon is notoriously difficult. Many devs have tried and struggled. How are you approaching it to ensure it's great?

• This question was approved but not asked before the end of the 45-minute Q&A. Alas! By this point, I figured I might get a softer question like this approved. And it had the most upvotes from my fellow attendees among the unanswered questions, but I asked it pretty late. Alas. Hope their dragon gameplay comes together better than PS3 launch game Lair, to name but one dragon game under-performer.

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Item 2: In brief…

😮 Electronic Arts’ stock tanked today, after the company warned investors late Wednesday that underperformance by EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard was forcing it to lower its fiscal outlook for the 12 months ending March 31. EA had expected $7.5-$7.8 billion in net bookings (player spending) for those 12 months; now projects $7-$7.2 billion.

• EA: “Global Football had experienced two consecutive fiscal years of double-digit net bookings growth. However, the franchise experienced a slowdown as early momentum in the fiscal third quarter did not sustain through to the end.”

• The company also said Dragon Age reached 1.5 million players from its Halloween release date through the end of December, half of its projection.

• Analyst consensus appeared to point to the performance of the soccer game, and EA appearing to model the slump into early 2025, as the bigger culprit for the shortfall.

⏾ Ted Price, CEO of Spyro/Ratchet/Spider-Man studio Insomniac Games is retiring after a 30 year run, Sony announced. Price’s departure was met with glowing tributes from current and former Insomniac workers.

• Three Insomniac veterans will be elevated to work as co-studio heads.

🎮 WB Games chief David Haddad, who steered his division through the WB’s tumultuous merger with Discovery and presided over a studio group that released 2023’s best-selling game (Hogwarts Legacy) and one of 2024’s most notorious flops (Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League), is leaving the company, Variety reports. [Read my 2022 interview with Haddad about the state of WB Games]

📉 A 25% decline in game console sales in the U.S. in 2024 dragged down overall consumer spending on gaming for the year to $58.7 billion, 1.1% lower than 2023’s U.S. total, according to sales tracker Circana.

• For December 2024 alone, Xbox Series and Switch sales, in terms of dollars, were both down 38% compared to December 2023. PlayStation 5 was down 18%.

• Nearly 45% of all PlayStations and Xboxes sold in 2024 did not include a disc drive, Circana noted, suggesting that players are less and less interested in playing games off of discs.

• Spending on games (not counting hardware and accessories) was up 2% for the year; Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the best-selling game by dollars, passing EA Sports College Football 25 in December to take the top spot for the 2024.

👀 Leanne Loombe, who oversaw second/third-party game studio relations for Netflix, is moving to Annapurna to run its gaming division, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

🟥 Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told investors this week that the streaming giant sees “positive impacts in acquisition and retention from our game play members” in terms of gaming helping with overall Netflix subscriber numbers.

• Peters said Netflix’s gaming priorities going forward will include focuses on “more narrative games based on Netflix IP,” “party and couch co-op games on TV delivered from the cloud,” kids games and “more recognizable mainstream titles,” including the likes of the previously offered mobile port of Grand Theft Auto.

💡 Palworld studio Pocketpair is now also a game publisher and will publish a new horror game from Tales of Kenzera studio Surgent, The Verge reports.

🥷 Xbox is publishing a surprise sequel, Ninja Gaiden 4, to the beloved third-person action series from Tecmo’s Team Ninja. The new one is co-developed by PlatinumGames.

• It’s set to launch this fall on PC, Xbox and PlayStation (yes, it appears to be day-and-date on Sony’s machine; but is also coming to Game Pass, which is not on PlayStation)

🏆 Astro Bot won Game of the Year at the NY Game Awards earlier this week.

• I co-presented the award for best music, which also went to Astro Bot. [See full winners list]

• I’m part of the NY Game Critics Circle which presents the awards, so I’m biased, but I find the annual event to be distinctly heartfelt, as it showcases not just games but the charitable work the Circle does to work with underprivileged youth who are interested in the game industry and games media. It’s a very community-centric show.

• Watch the ceremony (and the pre-show I hosted) here, You can see all the awards and a lengthy presentation (with special rap tribute) to honor Remedy’s Sam Lake.