Why Haven’t We Seen Doom 4 Yet?

After years of denying rumors that Doom 4 had been canceled, Bethesda has finally confirmed that the original project was shelved and Doom 4 development has been rebooted. Pete Hines is Bethesda's vice president of marketing and public relations, and confirmed this to Kotaku yesterday:

"An earlier version of Doom 4 did not exhibit the quality and excitement that Id and Bethesda intend to deliver and that Doom fans worldwide expect... As a result, Id refocused its efforts on a new version of Doom 4 that promises to meet the very high expectations everyone has for this game and this franchise. When we’re ready to talk about the Doom 4 Id is making, we will let folks know."

According to the Kotaku report, development on Rage 2 was stopped when sales of Rage did not meet sales expectations. The Rage 2 and Doom 4 teams merged a couple of years back and have been working together on a rebooted Doom 4 project ever since. Like many of id's projects, a release date for Doom 4 is not available. Given the fact that Microsoft and Sony are launching new consoles, it's a good bet that the game is being developed for next-gen consoles. While we could see something shown off at E3 this summer, don't get your hopes up until something is officially announced.

For those that want more Doom, the Doom 3 BFG edition contains new content and was released for consoles late last year:

Re-mastered for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, DOOM 3 and it’s expansion pack offer enhanced visuals further immersing you in the demonic world like never before. DOOM 3, Resurrection of Evil, and ‘The Lost Mission’ have been optimized in 3D, featuring 5.1 surround sound, Xbox 360 Achievements, PlayStation 3 trophies, improved rendering and lighting, and a new check point save system allowing for smoother progression through the game. id Software has fine-tuned the controls to bring the intensity of the DOOM single and multiplayer experience to the consoles, and DOOM 3 now features the new armor-mounted flashlight, allowing players to illuminate dark corners and blast enemies at the same time.

DOOM 3 BFG Edition will also include the original DOOM and DOOM 2 games, making it the definitive collection of the genre-defining games developed by id Software, the pioneers of the first-person shooter genre."