The gaming landscape has recently welcomed a significant addition with the launch of Doom: The Dark Ages, which has successfully attracted over three million players since its release. This impressive milestone was shared by Bethesda, the game’s parent company, via a tweet that highlighted this title as the largest launch in developer Id Software’s history. Notably, Doom: The Dark Ages achieved this remarkable figure seven times faster than its predecessor, Doom Eternal, which debuted in 2020.
Player Engagement Insights
According to insights from Chris Dring of The Games Business, data analytics firm Ampere suggests that more than two million of the three million players engaged with the game on Xbox, likely through the popular Xbox Game Pass subscription service. This trend indicates a strong performance on console platforms.
On the PC front, Doom: The Dark Ages made a notable impact as well, ranking as the second highest-grossing title on Steam during its launch week, trailing only behind Counter-Strike 2. However, it’s essential to consider the differences in player engagement between this title and its predecessor. While Doom Eternal boasted an impressive 104.9k concurrent players during its opening weekend, Doom: The Dark Ages peaked at a significantly lower figure of 31,470 simultaneous users, as reported by SteamDB.
This disparity in player engagement may not paint a complete picture, as the launch of Doom Eternal coincided with a time when many individuals were confined to their homes due to COVID-19 lockdowns, leading to increased gaming activity. Nevertheless, the figures suggest that Doom: The Dark Ages may be experiencing a slightly softer commercial performance compared to its predecessor.
In the context of its launch, Bethesda previously noted that Doom Eternal had achieved the best opening weekend for the series, setting a high bar for future titles. As the gaming community continues to engage with Doom: The Dark Ages, it will be interesting to observe how player dynamics evolve in the coming weeks.
