DOOM: The Dark Ages declared the “biggest launch” in id Software’s history

DOOM: The Dark Ages, id Software’s recently-released medieval prequel to the famous FPS series, appears to have found a strong audience upon its release. Publisher Bethesda has proclaimed that the game has experienced the “biggest launch in id’s history“, eclipsing its 2020 predecessor, DOOM Eternal.

Thank you for making DOOM: The Dark Ages the biggest launch in id's history – 7x faster to 3 million players than DOOM Eternal. pic.twitter.com/c0SKR97FO8

— Bethesda (@bethesda) May 20, 2025

“Thank you for making DOOM: The Dark Ages the biggest launch in id’s history”, writes Bethesda in a post on social media, adding that the game reached the 3 million player threshhold seven times faster than DOOM Eternal. SteamDB has also stated that the game topped its sales charts for the week starting on the 13th of May 2025.

3 million players is no doubt an impressive milestone for any game. However, a notable caveat is the fact that DOOM: The Dark Ages launched day one on Game Pass. The Game Business co-founder, Christopher Dring, has advised that about 2 million of those 3 million players are on Xbox, suggesting that the lower barrier to entry via Game Pass has been a large part of the game’s success at building an audience.  Checkpoint’s reviewer Omi wrote highly of the game in his review, writing that DOOM: The Dark Ages “is the Slayer in his knightly prime“.

id Software is set to capitalise on the game’s success with as-yet-undetailed campaign DLC which is currently available to preorder as part of the game’s Premium Upgrade DLC. With id Software already having supported DOOM Eternal with its sterling The Ancient Gods expansions, a high bar has been set for DOOM: The Dark Ages’ post-launch content.