Id Software explains why Doom: The Dark Ages lacks multiplayer

When Doom (2016) made its gloriously gory comeback that year, its success was largely thanks to the campaign—not the multiplayer, which left quite a bit to be desired. When Doom Eternal launched in 2020, however, Id Software gave it another shot, trying to deliver a multiplayer experience that responded to fan feedback. Unfortunately, once again, the reception was lukewarm at best.

It's precisely because of these reasons that Id Software has now decided to skip multiplayer entirely in Doom: The Dark Ages. As Creative Director Hugo Martin recently explained in an interview with GamesRadar:

"The decision to forego a multiplayer mode was made right from the start of the game's development and we made the decision early to just focus all of our energy on trying to make the best campaign we could."

Another reason, though, was that Hugo and his team were adamant about not making a live service game—something he pointed out is often necessary to keep multiplayer alive today:

"You can't just do a little multiplayer. Multiplayer modes tend to thrive nowadays under the live-service model which is a direction that the team wished to avoid."

The wait is almost over now, as Doom: The Dark Ages launches on May 15—and yes, it'll be included with Game Pass from day one.