Id Software's long-awaited Doom 4 is being rebuilt for next generation consoles, multiple insiders have told Kotaku, following five years of mismanagement and an ultimatum from parent company ZeniMax. The project apparently began life as a remake of DOOM 2, incorporating tricks and tactics from more recent shooters. Many staff were unhappy with this. "People referenced Call of Duty," said one source. "There were jokes like, 'Oh, it's Call of Doom.' They referenced it because of the amount it was scripted-there were a lot of scripted set pieces. There was kind of the recognition that in order to be a big shooter these days, you have to have some amount of the big, bombastic movie experience that people get pulled through."



Another source claimed that "the coolest part... were the horror and shock elements, unfortunately bookended by somewhat pointless and contrived shooting galleries of hoards of uninteresting enemies." Vehicle sections were also on the cards. The overall aim, sources explained, was to escape some of the more hackneyed aspects of the franchise's heritage. "The big thing [Id] tried to do was not seem like, 'Here's a bunch of demons'.

"There was lots of concept art and prototype missions set up showing different parts of the earth being taken over, being warped and twisted into a hellish reimagining... It's not just the demons: everything around you is changing. Humans are starting to struggle to go through an environment that is partially familiar, partially unknown now."

According to the report, id Software struggled to manage work on Doom 4 alongside the development of 2011's Rage, envisioned as a big hit. In the wake of the latter's underwhelming sales, ZeniMax took the latest version of Doom 4 for a spin, found it wanting, and promptly got tough with studio heads.

"Rage came out, and it wasn't the splash success that everyone hoped it would be," one source told the site. "Eventually what kind of came down was, ZeniMax said, 'Okay, look, we gave you guys a bunch of chances and you guys are having a lot of trouble managing multiple projects, so you guys are gonna have one project: Just do Doom 4.'" The publisher apparently also told developers that "Doom 4 can and should be as big as Skyrim."

Some sources allege that id Software faces closure - or at the very least, demotion to the status of a technology company - should it fail to produce satisfactory results.



Bethesda (aka, the rung on the corporate ladder between Zenimax and id Software) has declined to comment on much of this, naturally. The publisher was prepared to concede, however, that "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."

Source: Rheena.com
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