Summary
Doom: The Dark Ageshas swiftly reached three million players, becoming the biggest game launch ever by id Software. As the latest entry in a seminal FPS series,Doom: The Dark Agesrolled out to a strong reception across PC and consoles on June 21, 2025.
When the news of Xbox acquiring ZeniMax Media—id Software’s parent company—surfaced,Doomemerged as one of the biggest franchises to be part of the takeover. After the sweeping success ofDoom Eternalin 2020, the series unveiled its first game under its new owner in June 2024, stealing the spotlight during the Xbox Games Showcase event. In the days leading up to its release,Doom: The Dark Agespartnered with a variety of brandsfor promotional reasons, which resulted in a collaboration with Harley-Davidson for aDoom-themed motorcycle, a team-up with Nvidia for limited-time GPU bundles, and more. It now seems like the multi-faceted effort surrounding the launch of the game produced the desired result, with the developer confirming its record-breaking performance.
Bethesda, the publisher behindDoom: The Dark Ages, recently shared that the game’s player base grew to three million players within a week of its release. In doing so, the fantasy shooter broke the record for the biggest-ever launch witnessed in the 34-year-long history of id Software. Additionally, it was confirmed that thenewDoomgamereached the player milestone seven times faster compared to its predecessor,Doom Eternal. Reacting to the announcement, industry insider Christopher Dring chipped in with an interesting stat sourced from Ampere, which revealed that more than two millionDoom: The Dark Agesplayers were on Xbox. Moreover, he continued that he expected the game to fare “a bit better” based on the sheer excitement around the time of its announcement.
Doom: The Dark Ages Crosses Three Million Players
Thanks to Bethesda confirming the medieval-themedDoomas the American studio’s most successful launch, the doubts circling around the game’s initial performance have been more or less put to bed. Earlier, some gamers had speculated thatDoom: The Dark Ages might have been struggling at launch, owing to its inferior peak concurrent player count (31,470) on Steam when pitted against the corresponding debut numbers of the 2016 reboot (44,271) andDoom Eternal(104,891). However, it appears that despite this notable difference in Steam engagement, apparently due to the Game Pass day-one launch being a factor, the Doom Slayer’s brand-new adventure has fared well enough anyway.
WithDoom: The Dark Agesstill having time on its side, it seems fair to expect the game to rope in plenty more players while the surrounding hype remains significant. At the same time, the big launch marks another success story for Xbox’s first-party titles, following in thefootsteps ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6andIndiana Jones and the Great Circlefrom 2024.
DOOM: The Dark Ages
WHERE TO PLAY
DOOM: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal that tells an epic cinematic story of the DOOM Slayer’s rage. Players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.
