Why Was Doom 4 Called Doom?

Because Bethesda and them dragging the Doom name through the mud. Carmack had a good idea going when he left id, Bethesda (Or Zenimax) would try and reboot Doom and make everyone forget the OTHER Doom. Bethesda and Zenimax are a bunch of babies.

26 minutes ago, iconofeggsafe666 said:

Because Bethesda and them dragging the Doom name through the mud. Carmack had a good idea going when he left id, Bethesda (Or Zenimax) would try and reboot Doom and make everyone forget the OTHER Doom. Bethesda and Zenimax are a bunch of babies.

Bethesda has no creative input when it comes to Doom and even left id alone to reboot their own game after Doom 4 1.0 got canned...

And considering the new ports keep getting updated and receive new addons periodically, I'm not seeing how they want people to "forget" the "other" Doom. Stop spreading nonsense.

1 hour ago, seed said:

 

Bethesda has no creative input when it comes to Doom and even left id alone to reboot their own game after Doom 4 1.0 got canned...

 

And considering the new ports keep getting updated and receive new addons periodically, I'm not seeing how they want people to "forget" the "other" Doom. Stop spreading nonsense.

...
You have a point. You win on that argument.

Wow, that was the fastest resolution to an internet dispute I've ever seen.

The name "Doom 2016" is going to age so much worse than the name "Doom 4" would have. I get the argument that numbered sequels make a series feel like it's been getting drawn out too far or some other nonsense like that, but being the so-called 4th installation 23 years after the first doesn't exactly seem like "beating the dead horse" territory. So they ended up with a name that already feels extremely dated just 4 years later..

I guess this kind of marketing decision mumbo-jumbo only matters to the bean counters who push such silly decisions during the initial wave of sales, but I just can't get over how forcing the community to add the year to the title via bad naming a la "Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)" is making the game seem so dated so rapidly. I like the game, so I'm still pretty displeased with that decision because it's just so overtly silly, even if it doesn't matter much.

I'm glad Doom: Eternal won't get landed with the name "Doom 2020". That almost reminds me of bad 80's shit that was trying to sound futuristic, like Raid 2020 or Street Fighter 2010.

2 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

The name "Doom 2016" is going to age so much worse than the name "Doom 4" would have. I get the argument that numbered sequels make a series feel like it's been getting drawn out too far or some other nonsense like that, but being the so-called 4th installation 23 years after the first doesn't exactly seem like "beating the dead horse" territory. So they ended up with a name that already feels extremely dated just 4 years later..

 

I guess this kind of marketing decision mumbo-jumbo only matters to the bean counters who push such silly decisions during the initial wave of sales, but I just can't get over how forcing the community to add the year to the title via bad naming a la "Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)" is making the game seem so dated so rapidly. I like the game, so I'm still pretty displeased with that decision because it's just so overtly silly, even if it doesn't matter much.

 

I'm glad Doom: Eternal won't get landed with the name "Doom 2020". That almost reminds me of bad 80's shit that was trying to sound futuristic, like Raid 2020 or Street Fighter 2010.

If the decision was in your power, what would you have called that Doom game that was released in 2016?

I would have gone for something like Doom: Resurrection or something along those lines, although I could see how people might have seen that as trite (heh, trites).

10 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I'm glad Doom: Eternal won't get landed with the name "Doom 2020". That almost reminds me of bad 80's shit that was trying to sound futuristic, like Raid 2020 or Street Fighter 2010.

I wonder what the people of 2077 are gonna think of Cyberpunk 2077 heh

I would have just gone with "Doom 4", though if I was to go the subtitle route maybe something not so overused.. "Doom: Restitution" or something. I think "Doom 4" is way more punchy and rolls off the tongue better than any subtitle I can think of, though. That's just my take on it!

It's so weird having to stick the year onto references to a game with the same name as a previous game. I agree with Doomkid, with calling Doom 2016, Doom 4.

Yeah, I agree that using years to reference the new entries is supremely silly, but in the context of reboots just naming them after the original kinda makes sense, as it sort of explains their goals.

But I hate numbered entried honestly, especially when there's too many of them. And yet, in some cases I am... fine somehow with that too? I don't know why though, for some it bothers me, for some it doesn't - "MK11" doesn't for instance. I prefer giving them actual names myself, like Eternal right here did. If I was to rename Doom 2016, I think I would've simply chosen Doom's original name - Doom: Evil Unleashed, simply because I liked that name - as weak as it may be -, not because I wanted it to be a reference to the original game's title.

I'm too used to the name Doom 2016 to switch to Doom 4. Besides, to me, Doom 4 is the canceled game with all the NPCs and stuff.

But yeah, a subtitle would have been good. Doom Unearthed, perhaps, what with the player starting the game by getting out of a sarcophagus. And it's the whole Doom Bible/Doom 3 plot, too: digging on Mars unearths some artifacts that lead to experimenting with ancient technologies that just bring the demons in. But this time, it also brings the (p|s)layer in!

5 hours ago, seed said:

Yeah, I agree that using years to reference the new entries is supremely silly, but in the context of reboots just naming them after the original kinda makes sense, as it sort of explains their goals.

 

But I hate numbered entried honestly, especially when there's too many of them. And yet, in some cases I am... fine somehow with that too? I don't know why though, for some it bothers me, for some it doesn't - "MK11" doesn't for instance. I prefer giving them actual names myself, like Eternal right here did. If I was to rename Doom 2016, I think I would've simply chosen Doom's original name - Doom: Evil Unleashed, simply because I liked that name - as weak as it may be -, not because I wanted it to be a reference to the original game's title.

They should have called Doom 4 "Doom Evil Unleashed."

Doom Evil Unleashed is both a mod (that I'm not sure how many exist) and the Atari Jaguar release.

2 minutes ago, Gerardo194 said:

Doom Evil Unleashed is both a mod (that I'm not sure how many exist) and the Atari Jaguar release.

Oh.

To be honest I call the game as New DOOM.

But I would subtitle as Doom: Argent, Doom: Fourth Age or Doom: Fight Like Hell.

Names such as Reborn, Rebirth, Origins, Roots, etc are so bad and overused including 4 and 2016.

12 hours ago, sluggard said:

I wonder what the people of 2077 are gonna think of Cyberpunk 2077 heh

What do we think of Akira now? It's 2020, after all.

Though, hmm...

Catastrohpic event takes place months before 2020 Olympics... Coronavirus hits in March... Olympics would've been in July...

Yep, it predicted that successfully. AFK while my arm mutates.

^^This is an awesome comment.

*clears throat*

TETSUOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On reflection, I think it's clear they didn't call it Doom 4 because they were leaving Doom 3 out of consideration in their timeline.

Calling it Doom 4 implies it's Doom --> Doom II --> Doom 3 --> Doom 4

When really it's

Doom + expansions --> Doom II + expansions --> Final Doom --> Doom 64 + expansion --> Doom (2016) + Doom VFR --> Doom Eternal

With Doom 3 + expansions either taking place in other timeline/dimension or being left out altogether.

As usual, Doom 3 is the turd in the punch bowl. They should have given it its own subtitle so it could easily be ignored, while Final Doom and Doom 64 should've been called Doom III and Doom IV respectively. Then 2016 is V and Eternal is VI, no confusion.

On 6/17/2019 at 12:20 PM, seed said:

Because it is a reboot of the series and to avoid the mistake Doom 3 did (being called as such which implies it's a sequel, when it's in fact a reboot of the series with a different Marine).

 

But they might have wanted people to forget about classic Doom as well, as strange as it might be. I remember Hugo saying in an interview that he doesn't understand why people started calling the 2016 installment "Doom 2016" as it was not their intention at all.

I would rather it be called doom 3 and doom 4 because at least its consistent then "oh no that doom not that doom" because id wanted zoomers to get in to this game

On 5/22/2020 at 11:36 PM, Doomkid said:

I would have just gone with "Doom 4", though if I was to go the subtitle route maybe something not so overused.. "Doom: Restitution" or something. I think "Doom 4" is way more punchy and rolls off the tongue better than any subtitle I can think of, though. That's just my take on it!

I'd call it Doom Absolution.

On 7/21/2020 at 6:30 PM, ZeroTheEro said:

I'd call it Doom Absolution.

It kinda references D64's final map that way. I dunno, unless done on purpose it sounds off to me :p .

- DOOM

- DOOM 2: Hell on Earth

- DOOM 3 (Final DOOM; sequel to 2)

- DOOM 4 (DOOM 64; sequel to Final)

- DOOM 5 (DOOM 3; another story in universe)

- DOOM 666 (DOOM 2016; title references to both being good reboot, definitive vision of IP and good sequel)

- DOOM 7 (DOOM Eternal; 7 is god number and Eternal has gods, including Maykrs)

Can I just say that I hate naming reboots the same as the source material for the reason of "which one?", having to specify is an utter pain in the ass.

How is id confused about people calling it Doom 2016? That's the go-to. no-brainer way to show which game you're talking about.

On 7/22/2020 at 9:02 PM, candreeck said:

7 is god number

Did your monkey go to heaven also?

DOOM 3 is canon. Believe it or not. It's the same concept about "the man walking between dimensions." (From his universe, to hell, to Urdak, and finally. Doom 3's universe is where General Hayden is from).

To me DOOM 2016 is the same as Metal Gear Solid for the PSX. Metal Gear Solid was a sequel to the Metal Gear 1 and 2 for the MSX but retconned some things along the way so it's also a "soft reboot".

The reason why Id wanted to call DOOM 4 just "DOOM" is because it already had vertices for each stylish letters counting to "four." But after they reworked the game that is 2016, they simply called it "DOOM" to bring modern players to recognize its legacy.

Because Doom 3, the sequel to Doom 2, completely fucked with the timeline.

It's the same reason why Wolfenstein 2008 was simply referred to as: "Wolfenstein." Or why the new Prey is just called, "Prey." It's brand recognition and marketing. If you google those names, there's a big chance that the newer titles will appear in the search feed. Publishers want everyone to notice their new game and to buy it. My hunch is that It's sort of a trend to maximize sales by pretending the older games don't matter. Another explanation is of course the reboot thing.

It was planned to be named Doom 4 back in 2008. It was like the original Rage, where it was an open world shooter. Id and Bethesda decided it was a good idea to go back to the original Doom playstyle. Fast paced, a lot of Demons, and Big Fucking Guns! It WAS a reboot before Doom Eternal came out and confirmed that the Doom Slayer is the classic unnamed marine from the original games, making Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal sequels.