Doom

This article is about the video game series. For the live-action adaptation, see Doom (film).

Box art, painted by Don Ivan Punchatz.

Doom (typeset as DOOM in official documents) is a 1993 in video gaming|1993 first-person shooter video game by id Software. It is widely recognized for having popularized the first person shooter genre, pioneering immersive 3D computer graphics|3D graphics, networked Multiplayer video game|multiplayer gaming, and support for customized additions and modifications via packaged files in a data archive known as "Doom WAD|WADs". Its graphic and interactive violence, as well as its Satanism|Satanic imagery, also made it the subject of considerable video game controversy|controversy. In Doom, players assume the role of a doomguy|space marine who must fight his way through a military base on Mars' moon, Phobos (moon)|Phobos, and kill the demons from Hell.

With one third of the game (9 levels) distributed as shareware, Doom was played by an estimated 10 million people within two years of its release, popularizing the mode of gameplay and spawning a Video game culture|gaming subculture; as a sign of its effect on the industry, games from the mid-1990s boom of first-person shooters are often known simply as "Doom clone|Doom clones". According to GameSpy, Doom was voted by industry insiders to be the greatest game of all time in 2004. The game was made available on Steam (software)|Steam on August 3, 2007.

The Doom franchise was continued with the follow-up Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994) and numerous expansion packs, including The Ultimate Doom (1995), Master Levels for Doom II (1995), and Final Doom (1996). Originally released for IBM PC compatible|PC/DOS, these games have later been porting|ported to many other platforms, including nine different game consoles, Rockbox firmware, and even Personal digital assistant|PDAs and the Flash Player virtual machine. The series lost mainstream appeal as the technology of the Doom engine|Doom game engine was surpassed in the mid-1990s, although fans have continued making Wads|WADs, speedruns, and modifications to the source code released in 1997.

The franchise again received popular attention in 2004 with the release of Doom 3, a retelling of the original game using new technology, and an associated 2005 Doom (film)|Doom motion picture. On May 7, 2008, following speculation by John Carmack at QuakeCon on August 3, 2007, Doom 4 was announced as in production. The game is neither a sequel to Doom 3 nor a new beginning of the franchise and it will use the company's new id Tech 5 engine. On June 26, 2009, John Carmack released Doom Resurrection, a new game developed by Escalation Studios for iOS (Apple)|iOS and published by id Software. The setting for Doom Resurrection takes place parallel to Doom 3, and it uses the characters and art from the previously developed game.