While the initial stats for DOOM: The Dark Ages seemed soft, id Software has shared data suggesting the game is actually doing quite well, based on the nebulous concept of what “good” is by Game Pass standards.
According to Bethesda, DOOM: The Dark Ages has hit 3 million players in its first week, achieving this feat 7x faster than DOOM: Eternal did. That also makes it id’s biggest software launch to date. It’s unclear if they mean the biggest launch in terms of pure player numbers or if they mean in terms of revenue, but I’m assuming they are referring to players.
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
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You’ll note that, as is becoming the norm, the numbers only reference how many have played the game rather than actual copies sold. That is, of course, because of Game Pass and other subscription services. Total players have now become a more important metric for Microsoft, or at least that’s what Microsoft is saying publically. Once we start having to consider how a game’s success is measure in terms of Game Pass player counts, it becomes almost impossible for us normies to reliably judge how well a title is doing. Only Microsoft, Bethesda and id Software really know what sort of metrics they are looking for in relation to Game Pass.
What I think we can say with some certainty is the 3m player stat means DOOM: The Dark Ages probably got a lot of players through Game Pass rather than sales. I say this because the circumstantial evidence available seems to point toward DOOM struggling compared to some other recent releases like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
I’d love a deeper breakdown of sales vs Game Pass, but we will likely never get that. The other only piece of data we will get will sales charts whenever.