Doom Can Compete Against Other Big Shooters, Bethesda Says

Bethesda is confident that its upcoming first-person shooter from id Software, Doom, will go "toe-to-toe" with other big shooters when it's released next year. 

Speaking to MCV, Bethesda's Pete Hines explained why he thought that Doom will be able to stand out from its competition. 

"It has some old-school sensibilities but it is doing it in a very modern, fresh next-gen way," he said. "The multiplayer is not your traditional first-person shooter multiplayer. It is not one shot and the other guy is dead, it is not about who has the fastest trigger finger or reactions.

"All of those things together creates something you're not going to get from many other first-person shooters…It can go toe-to-toe with those really big shooters."

Hines says that although he's confident in Doom's gameplay, he acknowledges the fact that the Doom franchise has been on the wane in recent years.

"Your average first-person shooter gamer does not list Doom amongst his or her favorite or most beloved first-person shooters, because there hasn’t been one for a decade," he said.

"Doom is fast-paced, very visceral, and sort of incentivizes you to be aggressive. If you are low on health, the best way to stay alive is to find a demon and kill. If you stop taking fire for a little bit, your health doesn't go back up."

To boost public perception of the game, Bethesda is planning marketing campaigns and events ahead of its release. Hines says that even if Doom is a great game, it'll be hard to get people to play it if they don't even know about it. 

"If nobody knows about it, it's like a tree falling in a forest while nobody is around," Hines said.

Doom is expected for release on the PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in spring 2016.