DOOM PS4

Bethesda has admitted that it needs to prove itself with the impending PlayStation 4 version of legendary first-person shooter DOOM, informing fans that it shouldn’t expect the sequel to be awesome based on the property’s past pedigree alone. Speaking with MCV, spokesperson Pete Hines likened the situation to Wolfenstein, which has just made a comeback with the critically acclaimed The New Order.

“The last couple of games were either ‘ok’ or ‘not great’,” he earnestly admittedly. “It wasn’t a franchise where people were desperate for the next one. Wolfenstein isn’t Uncharted. We knew that this would take some explaining. But developer Machine Games has now untarnished the intellectual property.”

Hines hopes that the same situation will recur with the new DOOM, which is set to be shown behind closed doors at QuakeCon later this year. “We view that similarly to Wolfenstein, because it’s been so long since the last Doom game,” he explained. “We are going in as if we need to prove ourselves all over again. We have no free passes. Nobody will assume that this is going to be awesome.”

The outspoken executive concluded that the challenge attached to reviving the brand is forcing it to work harder on the game, which we suppose is a good thing. Still, we can’t help but feel that this is a case of the publisher quietly lowering expectations – especially seeing as the sequel has endured a troubled development cycle as far as we’re aware. What do you think that DOOM needs to do to revive itself? Pull out your BFG in the comments section below.

[source mcvuk.com, via computerandvideogames.com, vg247.com]