id expecting to sign Doom 4 deal 'later this year,' publisher unknown

by Christopher Grant { Feb 25th 2009 at 1:05PM }

While id Software recently partnered with EA's increasingly popular publishing imprint EA Partners for the upcoming Rage, John Carmack said that no such deal has been reached for the studio's other major project, the recently announced Doom 4. "Nobody's signed Doom yet," Carmack told Joystiq, "so Doom 4 will be the same process of going out and bringing [publishers] around." By that point, id will have "some scope of how the dealings of EA will have gone" and they'll "be able to get a better sense of how we think their doing, holding up their side of the bargain."

And when will that be? "We're taking Doom like we did with Rage, quite a way on our internal development funds," Carmack revealed. "It winds up getting us a better deal with the publishers who sign it but we do expect to be signing Doom deals later this year." So, in other words, after beating out other publishers on paper – including Activision, THQ, and Sega – to get the publishing rights for Rage, it's up to EA Partners to actually perform if they want a slice of that Doom 4 pie. With games like Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Left 4 Dead, Orange Box, Crysis, and unreleased games like Brütal Legend, and the as-yet-unnamed Epic / People Can Fly and Shinji Mikami / Suda51 games we think EA aims to please.

Check back later today for our full interview with id's John Carmack and Marty Stratton.

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Tags: Doom, Doom-4, id-Software, John-Carmack, PC

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Nadril @ Feb 25th 2009 1:10PM

So is doom 4 supposed to be a reworked version of Doom 2 like Doom 3 was to the first Doom? If so hop me on board, I loved Doom 2.

Lee @ Feb 25th 2009 3:20PM

We're not sure yet since they've announced nothing solid, other than its being made. Hope it is set on earth. that could look fucking intense.

BlaqueBeird @ Feb 25th 2009 6:49PM

I'll only play it if they bring back the character's pet rabbit. Best reason to kill demons ever.

John @ Feb 25th 2009 1:18PM

YES. This is the best news I've heard yet today!

Shagittarius @ Feb 25th 2009 1:29PM

Is there a way we can get a headline for the headline?

I mean, "id expecting to sign Doom 4 deal 'later this year,' publisher unknown"

is a lot of information, but it's also a lot of reading...

Perhaps a secondary headline fr the headline would be useful to those of us without much time on our hands, "Doom 4, soon."

Professor Lario @ Feb 25th 2009 1:48PM

How about - "It's DOOM4, son!"

Levi @ Feb 25th 2009 1:31PM

They'd better put the color coated keys and doors back in Doom where they belong >:)

ZippyDSMlee @ Feb 25th 2009 2:17PM

Will it suck like DOOM 3? Or will it have real level design and a move to visual optimization over carmanic "cinergy" with tiny level layouts and bland and boring gameplay?....

Nadril @ Feb 25th 2009 2:50PM

That's what I hope. If it's based off of Doom 2 then they'll have some awesome places to work with. Some of the Doom 2 levels were very impressive for their time, and these days I'm sure id can make a much better Hell on Earth.

ZippyDSMlee @ Feb 25th 2009 3:01PM

Nadril

Ya but look at D 1 and D3 you have to admit the level layout while preemptive is better in D1 than even most modern FPSs.

Return to Wolfenstine was the last ID game with any real level design D3 and Q4 are frankly a joke.

Rage seems to break the lazy mold they have been in but I dunno most modern FPS designs make some designs of 10+ years ago look good....

I hope they do something with the Gdamn weapons either offer 2 or 3 versions of the weapon or use alt fire or upgrades there is just no reason to cling to such antiquation... frankly its bad when games like Duke3D/Blood and Daikatana(yes I said the dai word) have better design implementation than most modern games...

Levi @ Feb 25th 2009 6:14PM

Yeah, level design was really uninspired IMO in Doom 3. Quake 4 was more fun, but still didn't feel as fun as the older games. Quake 4 is far better than Doom 3 actually.

They honestly need to look backwards for Doom. Doom 3 was too... realistic - wait for it! - not realistic in general, but in the sense that everything had to make sense in the game. I know they have to do this to a certain extent; they can't just have a yellow key and a yellow door, for example. But maybe they could make different sections of a level blocked off by calling it something, like the personnel wing, and give personnel wing keycards a yellow color scheme as well as the signs designating the facility personnel wing doors.

The old Doom games were about frantic action in decent level design that involved some simple maze oriented puzzles, while Doom 3 was about using their new shadow and lighting to try to scare the crap out of you. There weren't enough areas that were full of aliens for you to blast the crap out of.

And there were no doors that open at odd times that lead to nothing but a closet where an alien had been standing for what was probably an extremely long time...

ZippyDSMlee @ Feb 25th 2009 6:23PM

Levi
I believe Bioshock was the last shooter with "above average" modern level design, with that said its pretty simplistic..

Simplistic designs to make up for the time taken on modeling and graphics is the core of modern game design, as they will sale just as many copies of a great game as a mediocre game.

Its a shame to the simplistic designs kill a great game and make it lesser than what it could be.

Even half life 2 has pretty bland level designs all things considered..hell I was shocked at how they did UT3 some of the level designs are almost a joke.