• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Did Game Pass kill Doom: The Dark Ages?

Gaiff said:
2016 and Eternal were widely successful. It seems TDA significantly underperformed as it resulted in what is pretty much the closing of Id software. The one noticeable difference is that the previous two games didn't launch on Game Pass day 1.

So, did Game Pass effectively sink it or it would have failed regardless because it diverged too much from the classic formula with too much emphasis on melee combat? Doom Eternal also released at the crossroads of generation, coming out 8 months before the PS5/SX and being available for 6 different platforms vs only 3 for The Dark Ages.
Click to expand...
no the game was just mid
 
Gonzito said:
DUxO6A6r95pem7UD.gif
Click to expand...

You really love stroking small, hairy things uh? :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
Last edited:
Not really, but maybe affected

2016 was a breath of fresh air, simple fun. Eternal got big shoes to fit, and some of the changes make the game feel a little off. Dark Ages came way too soon, without Mick Gordon, and truth be told, style over substance
 
The game didnt had a good reception, and in xbox/pc everyone that really wanted to play it could play on gamepass or pay for one month and play the +-12hr game

Gamepass was the reason for the failure? I dont think so ... but it didnt help it either.

I think gamepass heavily change the way people consumes games that are on it, and Im not talking only about buying or not buying games.

And also change the way this games sells on PlayStation because there's probably a good overlap of PS and PC owners.

Anyway without hard data is impossible to know. One things for sure the game wasnt well received and stranded too much from the classic formula.
 
No. It killed itself. 2016 and Eternal are some of my favorite games EVER and i've been playing games for 30 years. I didnt even finiah the dark ages. It was painfully mediocre.
 
Personally i felt doom the dark ages was just more doom and it wasn't very exciting at launch, it was a game that failed to prove why it was necessary to exist prior to it's launch, i was perfectly happy waiting for a sale.

had nothing to do with gamepass
 
Last edited:
I loved Doom 2016, adored Eternal, but didn't bother with the Dark Ages, because of the way they treated Mick Gordon.
Some games, like Ace Combat 7 get delayed for a whole year to give their composer time to produce the awesome main theme. But Bethesda wouldn't let Mick mix the soundtrack for Eternal... His music is loke half the reason these games are what they are. No wonder TDA bombed.
 
Doom: TDA was on the PC, Xbox, PlayStation. It sold about 1 million copies. There are indie games that sold more than that.

I think it's safe to say it's a niche franchise and the studio size needs to reflect that.

I wonder if the majority of complainers actually bought the game.

The era of funding AA studios like they make AAA games is over.
 
Last edited:
YeulEmeralda said:
I am going to be honest here Doom is the one game that really does not need a story. Or cutscenes. Or deep characters. It is basically portal-demons-kill satan.
Click to expand...
Doom was from the beginning a little cosmic horror and Lore and Cosmic horror shouldnt mix for good reason.
 
kevboard said:
no, it was a combination of multiple really bad design choices that probably made people just not interested in it.

the wider levels were a weird choice, and that completely braindead "just make your own game by using these sliders, cuz we can't be arsed to balance our own game" thing didn't help either.

every time you see someone defend the game it's someone who tells you how to change the sliders to make it fun. this instantly tells you that they completely forgot to actually make the game fun, and then just threw a bunch of value tweak sliders in the game.


it is by far the worst of the trilogy, it's not even close... I have still not finished it, every time I try playing it again I get bored after half a mission. the level design is terrible, the combat feels weird, and I just can't shake the feeling that I shouldn't play the game "as intended" and should look up how I should tweak the sliders to make it good... and that's just such an insane turnoff. you basically need a guide to make the game good...

and as someone who already dislikes even so much as having a difficulty selection when you first start a game, having a difficulty selection AND multiple sliders to tweak the difficulty setting further was such an insane red flag right off the bat.


I have no idea who thought that was a good idea, but my god, whoever it was ruined the game imo.
Click to expand...
Hot take: Difficulty sliders are awesome and in no way indicate the game wasnt balanced. Thats why the sliders have default settings cause that was what they felt was a good balance.
 
Last edited:
Doom TDA was the best game of 2025

I think it is more likely that unionization killed id Software (they unionized end of 2025)
 
Gamepass damaged EVERY games that released on it, ESPECIALLY, on day one.

- Some people take it on gamepass so paid almost nothing for it.
- People on PS5 think "pfff it's a gamepass game I'll wait it costs 15€"
- Xbox/PC gamers who don't have GP "pfff it's a gp game I won't pay for this, I'll wait it's 15€"

GP devaluates everything... It's a good deal for gamers, at some points, but in general, no...

For exemple this game I wanted to play it but I thought "well it's on GP, I will play it later because now I already have this this this this this this this to play before"...

And when you INVESTS your money in something, you spend 50+ bucks for a game, that you OWN, you'll treat it differently, it has a different value to you, whatever you paid it or if your neighbor gave it to you, a game you own feels different than subscription.
 
Mr Hyde said:
Absolutely one hundred percent. Microsoft needs to kill off the day 1-perk of Game Pass, it's obvious now it's not only killing the games commercial viability but also the studios making them as well.
Click to expand...
You make it sound so simple.

I (and many others) would very likely not purchase the top tier of Gamepass were it not for the day one releases. In fact, I would drop down to the most basic layer for MP capabilities only.

That's a huge chunk of their £5 billion yearly revenue lost. Definitely more than they would likely recoup from Xbox sales on their first party exclusives.

Doom was released on multiple platforms, so should have sold well. Unfortunately, it WAS IP fatigue. Maybe a misstep in direction too.

I loved Doom, thought Eternal was decent, but wasn't excited by Dark Ages. I definitely wouldn't have bought it full price were it not available on Gamepass.
 
If a game is really good the Day 1 Gamepass wouldn't be enough to destroy sales. It's a decent game but only older hardcore gamers care about these types of games now. They should have gone more Doom 3 horror based story driven game IMO. Look at the popular opinions around ILL, something along those lines would of been very successful.
 
CGNoire said:
Hot take: Difficulty sliders are awesome and in no way indicate the game wasnt balanced. Thats why the sliders have default settings cause that was what they felt was a good balance.
Click to expand...

well, it wasn't tho.
literally everyone you'll see on twitter or forums who likes the game, only likes it after changing the game speed and changing things like the parry timing and stuff like that.

the game feels completely out of tune. like a guitar with 2 broken strings and 3 loose ones.
 
Donald mac Ronald said:
I also think eternal rubbed people up the wrong way. And lost interest because of it.

I know a guy who would masterbate over 2016 but hated eternal.
Click to expand...

Doom Eternal is one of the greatest FPS's of all time. A lot of people agree. Obviously it's subjective, but Eternal has more fans than haters that's for sure. I see a lot of praise for Eternal still to this day.

I think TDA Revelations looks great but I still need to beat the base game.
 
Copying here my post from another thread. IMO ms and gamepass are definitily decisive in what happened but let's not pretend Dark Ages was a masterpiece…
In addition to the below I remember playing now the dlc that I also hated that the enemies are like nothing. You just look at them and they get destroyed, the visceral combat from 2016 and Eternal is just not there

"MS sucks bigly and I'm far from happy about this news, but let's admit that id botched it with The Dark Ages. They managed to develop a current gen only Doom that looks worse than Doom 2016 in many ways. Doom 2016 was amazing at the time but this felt like playing the same game with a new coat of paint that looks worse while being the most expensive game I ever got with having no game data on the physical disc.
Who cares about ray-tracing if it looks worse? It didn't need it. The performance wasted on it should have been used for better visuals and animations to have something that is clearly a leap compared to the previous games. Also those colorful orbs are nightmare fuel…"
 
The logic makes no sense. The game bombed on PC and PS5 as well which have nothing to do with Game Pass.
 
I didn't buy it because:
- Cheaper to dip one month on Gamepass to try it
- I didn't like what I saw of the gameplay pre-release

After trying it I still didn't buy it. Besides the mech and dragon sections which range from fine to annoying, I don't like the gameplay loop of TDA at all. I don't care it was different from Eternal, Eternal was a different beast from 2016 and I liked them both on their own strength.

The arena design is a vast downgrade from either of previous games, it's just big open arenas with nothing to traverse, climb or make use of to cut enemy retreats or break their line of sight to get your bearings. Movement is gimped. Half the enemies are useless, Dynasty Warriors tier fodder and the rest are Sekiro for morons enemies you parry when they glow green. It gets a little more interesting if you crank up the speed and aggression, but the core design I just don't find interesting at all.

If the gameplay knocked it out of the fucking park like 2016 and Eternal, I would have stomached the mech and dragon stuff and bought it properly. As it stands? Nah, they fumbled.
 
Gonzito said:
Gay Take Fratello

Xbox was celebrating 3 million players when the game launched. If Game Pass wasn't the reason, then why would they shut down id Software ? Having 3 million players sounds impressive, but player count doesn't automatically translate into profit, that is the true reason behind. Game Pass can inflate those numbers because many of those players didn't actually buy the game. At the end of the day, sales and revenue are what matter most in this industry, not just how many people tried the game. Microsoft is shooting themselves in the balls with Gamepass

The truth is just in front of you, some people just dont want to see it lol
Click to expand...
3 million is nothing, out of those I'd be surprised if even 1M would've bought it if it wasn't on Gamepass. Microsoft Store has like 1% of the PC market, Xbox Series has at best 25% of the console market, if Nintendo is excluded. And that's where TDA is on Gamepass. GP has total 30M subscribers over PC and all Xbox consoles, exclude Xbox One and it's going to be even less. Any cannibalism from these storefronts is barely going to be noticed.
 
Last edited:
Esquie said:
The logic makes no sense. The game bombed on PC and PS5 as well which have nothing to do with Game Pass.
Click to expand...
Well PC also has gamepass, that is where I played it. I just don't think the setting resonated with people - Medieval Sci-Fi might have sounded good on paper - but it didn't quite work. The game mechanics as well might have put people off, both the main game - and then the dragon and giant parts were just not as fun as they looked.
 
I really believe this. Yes. Absolutely it did.

When you get a game for free somewhere, nobody on other platforms are going to pay for it.

When it is on gamepass we view it as nothing. That is why gamepass is BAD. This is not our fault, this is the nature of all humans. Phil should have known this.

It doesn't matter if it is only free on Xbox. If the game has ever touched gamepass, then many people will spite not buy it knowing someone got it for a dollar a year. Disbelieve this is you will but the market will play it out everytime. YOU CANNOT DEVALUE YOUR OWN PRODUCT AND EXPECT OTHERS TO VALUE IT.

Not convinced? Last try. People do not buy good deals. You will go out of business offering good deals. They buy what they perceive to be a good deal. The sizzle. When Xboxers get a game for free on gamepass and they talk about that online, it kills the sales on all platforms. Sorry guys.
 
Last edited:
drotahorror said:
Doom Eternal is one of the greatest FPS's of all time. A lot of people agree. Obviously it's subjective, but Eternal has more fans than haters that's for sure. I see a lot of praise for Eternal still to this day.

I think TDA Revelations looks great but I still need to beat the base game.
Click to expand...
Eternal is great I agree.

But many people hated it because it was very different to 2016 including the art style.
 
more Game pass, please!!! it should burn everything to the ground!!! more fired devs, more canceled games, more masterpices games like Redfall. I DEMAND GAME PASS EVERYWHERE!!!!
 
Gonzito said:
Gay Take Fratello

Xbox was celebrating 3 million players when the game launched. If Game Pass wasn't the reason, then why would they shut down id Software ? Having 3 million players sounds impressive, but player count doesn't automatically translate into profit, that is the true reason behind. Game Pass can inflate those numbers because many of those players didn't actually buy the game. At the end of the day, sales and revenue are what matter most in this industry, not just how many people tried the game. Microsoft is shooting themselves in the balls with Gamepass

The truth is just in front of you, some people just dont want to see it lol
Click to expand...

Fess said:
3 million is nothing, out of those I'd be surprised if even 1M would've bought it if it wasn't on Gamepass. Microsoft Store has like 1% of the PC market, Xbox Series has at best 25% of the console market, if Nintendo is excluded. And that's where TDA is on Gamepass. GP has total 30M subscribers over PC and all Xbox consoles, exclude Xbox One and it's going to be even less. Any cannibalism from these storefronts is barely going to be noticed.
Click to expand...

Oh, definitely is Gamepass fault. According to reliable Ampere Analysis, around 2 million players came from Gamepass. Imagine if some of these 2 million players bought the fucking game, it would be at least 2 million copies sold at launch, not 800k.
 
Last edited:
It definitely hurt, but it wasn't the only reason. Franchise fatigue, not being as good as the previous titles and forced ray tracing which did impact PC sales. Similar situation to Quake with only working properly on a Pentium. Dark Ages is still better than anything 343/studios has put out though and the engine is great.
 
Hyper_hyper said:
Oh, definitely is Gamepass fault. According to reliable Ampere Analysis, around 2 million players came from Gamepass. Imagine if some of these 2 million players bought the fucking game, it would be at least 2 million copies sold at launch, not 800k.
Click to expand...
2 million wouldn't have bought it. Like I said at best a million, that's still an exaggeration I would imagine.

Lots of people including myself play a ton of games through Gamepass they would never pay full price for.

With Gamepass you play literally everything that peek your interest, for as long as you find it interesting, not a second more, there is no investment so nothing is lost if you drop it. You play small and big games, some you play for 5 minutes, some you play til the end. That's the whole point of a subscription library.

The game obviously had issues if 90M PS5 gamers and 150M(?) Steam gamers decided to skip it.
 
Last edited:
Hyper_hyper said:
Oh, definitely is Gamepass fault. According to reliable Ampere Analysis, around 2 million players came from Gamepass. Imagine if some of these 2 million players bought the fucking game, it would be at least 2 million copies sold at launch, not 800k.
Click to expand...

imagine of some of the 80 million PS5 users and 140 million Steam users bought it...
 
Donald mac Ronald said:
I also think eternal rubbed people up the wrong way. And lost interest because of it.

I know a guy who would masterbate over 2016 but hated eternal.
Click to expand...
It did for me 🤷‍♂️

2016 was okay but it didn't feel like a true Doom to me. It was way too fast and it lost the feel

Old Doom was more of a slow burner, some sections were just ambient. New Dooms just chuck enemies at you at the speed of light in arena settings..

As for the last two new ones, na, totally lost me.

Not surprised it failed to be honest. Doom was never whatever the hell Dark ages was. That just looks ridiculous.
 
Game Pass certainly affects games value and hype, when you know it's in Game Pass day one, the launch feels different. Like more mute.
 
Runs like shit
Next gen but looks worse than previous games
More gsmey than Eternal, just less structured. "Better overheat those shield guys"

Certainly didn't set themselves up for success.
 
kevboard said:
imagine of some of the 80 million PS5 users and 140 million Steam users bought it...
Click to expand...



Imagine to apply your logic to every game then. :./ 3 million players played the game, 2 million Gamepass users said fuck off to buy the game.


Fess said:
2 million wouldn't have bought it. Like I said at best a million
Click to expand...

I've said : "imagine is some of these 2 million players..." Million would be great, that's 2 million then at launch.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Doom Dark Ages gets PSSR upgrade
2
62
899
Karim replied
  • Poll
LTTP: Doom: The Dark Ages
Opinion LTTP 
48
1K
PontificationEngine replied
DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations Expansion Previews - 10~12 Hours Length
2
80
917
xVodevil replied
DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations Releases July 7, 2026
News  2 3 4
184
2K
MaestroMike replied
For The First Time, A Denuvo Game From 2025 (Doom: The Dark Ages), Has Been Cracked By Pirates
Business Platform 
17
910
drotahorror replied
Top Bottom