There’s a new rumor going around that id Software’s next game is to be revealed soon… but what could that game be?
As shared on NeoGAF by user adamsapple, NateTheHate has been sharing teasers on ResetEra about id Software’s next game coming to Xbox Games Showcase this June. Nate has gone on record for one other thing; this new game is not a Quake game.
id Software hasn’t given us advance notice of their plans this time, so we don’t quite know what game this could be. Checking back on our reports does share some interesting possibilities.
The earliest rumor that seems relevant today is that they were working on a VR game since January 2021. We hadn’t received confirmation of this project since then. If we were honest, if this was the one that is true, id has a really small niche to look forward to selling this title to, and it isn’t likely to be profitable as a result. id’s last VR game was Doom VFR, released in 2017 for PSVR on PlayStation 4 and HTC Vive on Windows.
Another rumor emerged in November 2021, as id posted job openings for an “iconic long-running action FPS,” with “sci-fi and fantasy environments.” At the time, much of the speculation was that this would be for a Quake game, as the description did not exactly fit Doom, any more than it did other lesser known id titles like Rage.
But the most recent one, truthfully, seems the most likely at this time. Last January, a rumor appeared that id was given the license to Star Wars: The Mandalorian, one of the more popular pieces of Star Wars media to release in recent years.
This rumor has some traction because Microsoft and Disney had already revealed some other recent projects together, namely, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, to be made by MachineGames, and Marvel’s Blade, to be made by Arkane Lyon.
For those who are wondering, the last three games id software published were Rage 2 in 2019, Doom Eternal in 2020, and Quake Champions, which went early access in 2017 but was officially published, as a free-to-play title, in 2022.
id has been keeping busy in the past two to four years without new releases, helping out Bethesda in making Starfield, for example. But given Microsoft’s mandate for great first party games, we of course know that they, as well as every other studio now under Microsoft’s umbrella, had a title in production, to help make Xbox the place to be.
I know I’m not the only one looking forward to a new Doom game, given the caliber of their recent reboot, but perhaps id is planning to make another such surprising modern reboot of one of their classic franchises. There is a slim chance we could see an open world collect-a-thon Commander Keen 3D platformer, for example – but the chances of that happening are higher than zero.
