id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in

Richardson, Texas Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 119,469. Richardson is an inner suburb of the city of Dallas. It is home to the University ...

. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company

Softdisk Softdisk was a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly owned by paper mag ...

programmers A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

John Carmack and

John Romero John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

Tom Hall Tom Hall is an American game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'' and ''Commander Keen''. Career Hall attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science. In 1987 ...

, and artist

Adrian Carmack Adrian Carmack (born May 5, 1969) is an American video game artist and one of four co-founders of id Software, along with Tom Hall, John Romero, and John Carmack (no relation). The founders met while working at Softdisks ''Gamer's Edge'' divi ...

. id Software made important technological developments in video game technologies for the PC (running

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

), including work done for the '' Wolfenstein'', ''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

'', and '' Quake'' franchises. id's work was particularly important in

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for t ...

technology and in game engines that are used throughout the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...

. The company was involved in the creation of the

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...

(FPS) genre: ''

Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game '' Castle Wolfe ...

'' is often considered to be the first true FPS; ''

'' is a game that popularized the genre and PC gaming in general; and '' Quake'' was id's first true 3D FPS. On June 24, 2009,

ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland, and founded in 1999. The company owns publisher Bethesda Softworks with its development unit Bethesda Game Studios (developer of ''The Elder Scrolls,'' ...

acquired the company. In 2015, they opened a second studio in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, Germany.

History

Formation

The founders of id Software – John Carmack,

, and

– met in the offices of

developing multiple games for Softdisk's monthly publishing, including ''

Dangerous Dave ''Dangerous Dave'' is a 1988 computer game by John Romero. It was developed for the Apple II and DOS as an example game to accompany his article about his GraBASIC, an Applesoft BASIC add-on, for the ''UpTime'' disk magazine. Summary The obj ...

''. Along with another Softdisk employee, Lane Roathe, they had formed a small group they called Ideas from the Deep (IFD), a name that Romero and Roathe had come up with. In September 1990, Carmack developed an efficient way to rapidly side-scroll graphics on the PC. Upon making this breakthrough, Carmack and Hall stayed up late into the night making a replica of the first level of the popular 1988

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

game '' Super Mario Bros. 3'', inserting stock graphics of Romero's Dangerous Dave character in lieu of Mario. When Romero saw the

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

, entitled ''Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement'', he realized that Carmack's breakthrough could have potential. The IFD team moonlighted over a week and over two weekends to create a larger demo of their PC version of ''Super Mario Bros. 3''. They sent their work to Nintendo. According to Romero, Nintendo had told them that the demo was impressive, but "they didn't want their intellectual property on anything but their own hardware, so they told us Good Job and You Can't Do This". While the pair had not readily shared the demo though acknowledged its existence in the years since, a working copy of the demo was discovered in July 2021 and preserved at the

Museum of Play The Strong is an interactive, collections-based educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States, devoted to the study and exploration of play. It carries out this mission through six programmatic arms called "Play Partners": * Nat ...

. Around the same time in 1990, Scott Miller of

Apogee Software 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game '' Kingdom of Kroz''. In the ...

learned of the group and their exceptional talent, having played one of Romero's Softdisk games, ''Dangerous Dave'', and contacted Romero under the guise of multiple fan letters that Romero came to realize all originated from the same address. When he confronted Miller, Miller explained that the deception was necessary since Softdisk screened letters it received. Although disappointed by not actually having received mail from multiple fans, Romero and other Softdisk developers began proposing ideas to Miller. One of these was ''

Commander Keen ''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were originally released for MS-DOS in ...

'', a side-scrolling game that incorporated the previous work they had done on the ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' demonstration. The first ''Commander Keen'' game, ''

Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons ''Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons'' is a three-part episodic side-scrolling platform video game developed by Ideas from the Deep (a precursor to id Software) and published by Apogee Software in 1990 for MS-DOS. It is the first set of ...

'', was released through Apogee in December 1990, which became a very successful shareware game. After their first royalty check, Romero, Carmack, and

(no relation) decided to start their own company. After hiring Hall, the group finished the ''Commander Keen'' series, then hired Jay Wilbur and

Kevin Cloud Kevin Cloud is an American video game artist. He graduated from LSU-Shreveport in 1987 with a degree in political science. Cloud acquired his first full-time job as a computer artist at Softdisk in 1985. He was hired by id Software on March 10, ...

and began working on ''

''. id Software was officially founded by Romero, John and Adrian Carmack and Hall on February 1, 1991. The name "id" came out of their previous IFD; Roathe had left the group, and they opted to drop the "F" to leave "id". They initially used "id" as an initialism for "In Demand", but by the time of the fourth ''Commander Keen'' game, they opted to let "id" stand out "as a cool word", according to Romero. The shareware distribution method was initially employed by id Software through Apogee Software to sell their products, such as the ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein'' and ''Doom'' games. They would release the first part of their trilogy as shareware, then sell the other two installments by

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

. Only later (about the time of the release of ''Doom II'') did id Software release their games via more traditional shrink-wrapped boxes in stores (through other game publishers). After ''Wolfenstein 3D''s great success, id began working on ''

''. After Hall left the company,

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Call ...

and Dave Taylor were hired before the release of ''Doom'' in December 1993.

The end of the classic lineup

''Quake'' was released on June 22, 1996 and was considered a difficult game to develop due to creative differences. Animosity grew within the company and it caused a conflict between Carmack and Romero, which led the latter to leave id after the game's release. Soon after, other staff left the company as well such as

Michael Abrash Michael Abrash is a programmer and technical writer specializing in code optimization and 80x86 assembly language. He wrote the 1990 book ''Zen of Assembly Language Volume 1: Knowledge'' and a monthly column in '' Dr. Dobb's Journal'' in the ea ...

, Shawn Green, Jay Wilbur, Petersen and Mike Wilson. Petersen claimed in July 2021 that the lack of a team leader was the cause of it all. In fact, he volunteered to take lead as he had five years of experience as project manager in MicroProse but he was turned down by Carmack.

ZeniMax Media and Microsoft

On June 24, 2009, it was announced that id Software had been acquired by

(owner of Bethesda Softworks). The deal would eventually affect publishing deals id Software had before the acquisition, namely ''Rage'', which was being published through Electronic Arts. ZeniMax received in July a $105 million investment from StrongMail Systems for the id acquisition, it's unknown if that was the exact price of the deal. id Software moved from the "cube-shaped"

Mesquite Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...

office to a location in

during the spring of 2011. On June 26, 2013, id Software president

Todd Hollenshead Todd Hollenshead was President and CEO of id Software while the company put out some of the gaming world’s most iconic video game franchises: Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Rage. In addition to his software work, he is also known in the gaming ...

quit after 17 years of service. On November 22, 2013, it was announced id Software co-founder and Technical Director John Carmack had fully resigned from the company to work full-time at

Oculus VR Reality Labs is a business of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as Quest, and online platforms such as Horizon ...

which he joined as CTO in August 2013. He was the last of the original founders to leave the company. Tim Willits left the company in 2019. ZeniMax Media was acquired by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

for in March 2021 and became part of

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

Company name

The company writes its name with a lowercase ''id'', which is pronounced as in "did" or "kid", and, according to the book ''

Masters of Doom ''Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture'' is a 2003 book by David Kushner about id Software and its influence on popular culture, focusing chiefly on the video-game company's co-founders John Carmack and John ...

'', the group identified itself as "Ideas from the Deep" in the early days of Softdisk but that, in the end, the name 'id' came from the phrase "in demand". Disliking "in demand" as "lame", someone suggested a connection with

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

's psychological concept of id, which the others accepted. Evidence of the reference can be found as early as ''Wolfenstein 3D'' with the statement "that's id, as in the id, ego, and superego in the psyche" appearing in the game's documentation. Prior to an update to the website, id's History page made a direct reference to Freud.

Key employees

– Artist (1992-2006), Executive producer (2007–present) * Donna Jackson – Office manager / ''"id mom"'' (1994–present) * Marty Stratton – Director of Business Development (1997-2006), Executive Producer (2006–present) Studio Director (2019–present) * Robert Duffy – Chief Technology Officer (1998–present) * Hugo Martin – Creative Director (2013–present)

Former key employees

Arranged in chronological order: *

– Co-founder,

level designer In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...

, writer, creative director (1991–1993). After a dispute with John Carmack over the designs of ''Doom'', Hall was forced to resign from id Software in August 1993. He joined

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...

soon afterwards. *

Bobby Prince Robert Caskin Prince III, known professionally as Bobby Prince, is an American video game composer and sound designer. He has worked as an independent contractor for several gaming companies, most notably id Software and 3D Realms. Some of his m ...

– Music composer (1991–1994). A freelance musician who went on to pursue other projects after ''Doom II''. * Dave Taylor – Programmer (1993–1996). Taylor left id Software and co-founded

Crack dot Com Crack dot Com was a computer game development company co-founded by ex-id Software programmer Dave Taylor, and Jonathan Clark. History Crack dot com started from home with a staff of just four people. Their first completed game, which had I ...

. *

– Co-founder,

, programmer (1991–1996). Romero resigned on August 6, 1996. He established

Ion Storm Ion Storm, L.P. was an American video game developer founded by video game industry veterans John Romero and Tom Hall, both formerly of id Software. Despite an impressive pedigree and high expectations, the company only produced one commercial ...

along with Hall on November 15, 1996. *

– Programmer (1995–1996). Returned to

after the release of ''Quake''. *

Shawn Green Shawn David Green (born November 10, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. Green was a 1st round draft pick and a two-time major league All-Star. He drove in 100 runs four times and scored 100 runs four times, hit ...

– Software support (1991–1996). Left id Software to join Romero at Ion Storm. * Jay Wilbur – Business manager (1991–1997). Left id Software after Romero's departure and joined Epic Games in 1997. *

– Level designer (1993–1997). Left id Software for

Ensemble Studios Ensemble Studios was an American video game developer. It was founded by Tony Goodman in 1994 and incorporated the following year. It borrowed the name of Ensemble Corporation, a consulting firm founded by Goodman in 1990. It was acquired by Mi ...

in 1997. * Mike Wilson – PR and marketing (1994–1997). Left id Software to become CEO of Ion Storm with Romero. Left a year later to found

Gathering of Developers Gathering of Developers, Inc. (shortened as G.O.D. or GodGames, and branded as Gathering between 2003 and 2004) was an American video game publisher based in New York City. Founded by Mike Wilson and associates in January 1998 and originally b ...

and later

Devolver Digital Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wilso ...

. *

American McGee American James McGee (born December 13, 1972)Birth record for American James McGee - Dallas, Texas, Birth Index, 1903–1997 - Ancestry.com is an American video game designer. He is best known as the designer of ''American McGee's Alice'', its ...

– Level designer (1993–1998). McGee was fired after the release of ''Quake II''. He joined

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

and created ''

American McGee's Alice ''American McGee's Alice'' is a 2000 virtual camera system, third-person Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Rogue Entertainment under the direction of designer American McGee and published by Electronic Arts under th ...

''. *

– Co-founder, artist (1991–2005). Carmack was forced out of id Software after the release of ''Doom 3'' because he would not sell his stock at a low price to the other owners. Adrian sued id Software and the lawsuit was settled during the Zenimax acquisition in 2009. *

– President (1996–2013) Left id Software on good terms to work at

Nerve Software Nerve Software, LLC is an American video game developer that was co-founded by ex-id Software employee Brandon James. Many of the original employees at Nerve were previously employed by Rogue Entertainment, another U.S. The United State ...

. * John Carmack – Co-founder, technical director (1991–2013). He joined

on August 7, 2013, as a side project, but unable to handle two companies at the same time, Carmack resigned from id Software on November 22, 2013, to pursue Oculus full-time, making him the last founding member to leave the company. *

Tim Willits Tim Willits is the former studio director, co-owner, and level designer of id Software, the American video game developer company. As of August 2019, Willits is the chief creative officer at Saber Interactive. He became a Director of 3D Realms ...

– Level designer (1995– 2001), creative director (2002–2011), studio director (2012–2019) He is now the chief creative officer at

Saber Interactive Saber Interactive Inc. is an American video game developer and video game publisher, publisher founded in 2001 with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Saber was acquired by Embracer Group in February 2020, making the studio a direct subs ...

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:15 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1991 till:2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1991 Colors = id:code value:blue legend:Programming id:design value:green legend:Design id:art value:purple legend:Art id:management value:red legend:Management BarData = bar:JCarmack text:"John Carmack" bar:ACarmack text:"Adrian Carmack" bar:Romero text:"John Romero" bar:Hall text:"Tom Hall" bar:Wilbur text:"Jay Wilbur" bar:Green text:"Shawn Green" bar:Cloud text:"Kevin Cloud" bar:Prince text:"Bobby Prince" bar:Taylor text:"Dave Taylor" bar:Petersen text:"Sandy Petersen" bar:McGee text:"American McGee" bar:Wilson text:"Mike Wilson" bar:Jackson text:"Donna Jackson" bar:Abrash text:"Michael Abrash" bar:Willits text:"Tim Willits" bar:Hollenshead text:"Todd Hollenshead" bar:Stratton text:"Marty Stratton" bar:Duffy text:"Robert Duffy" bar:Martin text:"Hugo Martin" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:JCarmack from:1991 till:2013 color:code bar:ACarmack from:1991 till:2005 color:art bar:Romero from:1991 till:1996 color:code bar:Romero from:1991 till:1996 color:design width:3 bar:Hall from:1991 till:1993 color:design bar:Wilbur from:1991 till:1997 color:management bar:Green from:1993 till:1996 color:code bar:Cloud from:1992 till:end color:art bar:Cloud from:2007 till:end color:management bar:Prince from:1992 till:1994 color:art bar:Taylor from:1993 till:1994 color:code bar:Petersen from:1993 till:1997 color:design bar:McGee from:1994 till:1998 color:design bar:Wilson from:1994 till:1997 color:management bar:Jackson from:1994 till:end color:management bar:Abrash from:1995 till:1996 color:code bar:Willits from:1995 till:2011 color:design bar:Willits from:2002 till:2011 color:management width:3 bar:Willits from:2011 till:2019 color:management bar:Hollenshead from:1996 till:2013 color:management bar:Stratton from:1997 till:end color:management bar:Duffy from:1998 till:end color:code bar:Martin from:2013 till:end color:art bar:Martin from:2013 till:end color:design width:3

Game development

Technology

Starting with their first shareware game series, ''Commander Keen'', id Software has licensed the core source code for the game, or what is more commonly known as the engine. Brainstormed by

, id Software held a weekend session titled "The id Summer Seminar" in the summer of 1991 with prospective buyers including Scott Miller,

George Broussard George Broussard is an American video game producer and designer, one of the creators of the '' Duke Nukem'' series ( Todd Replogle, Allen Blum, and Scott Miller being the others). Broussard released his early games under the name Micro F/X. In ...

, Ken Rogoway, Jim Norwood and Todd Replogle. One of the nights, id Software put together an impromptu game known as "Wac-Man" to demonstrate not only the technical prowess of the ''Keen'' engine, but also how it worked internally. id Software has developed their own game engine for each of their titles when moving to the next technological milestone, including ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''

ShadowCaster ''ShadowCaster'' is a first-person role-playing video game developed by Raven Software. It was published in 1993 by Origin Systems after Electronic Arts acquired them. A CD-ROM version was released in 1994, featuring two additional levels with ...

'', ''Doom'', ''Quake'', ''Quake II'', and ''Quake III'', as well as the technology used in making ''Doom 3''. After being used first for id Software's in-house game, the engines are licensed out to other developers. According to ''Eurogamer.net'', "id Software has been synonymous with PC game engines since the concept of a detached game engine was first popularized". During the mid to late 1990s, "the launch of each successive round of technology it's been expected to occupy a headlining position", with the ''Quake III'' engine being most widely adopted of their engines. However

id Tech 4 id Tech 4, popularly known as the ''Doom 3'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game ''Doom 3''. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for '' Do ...

had far fewer licensees than the

Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of g ...

from Epic Games, due to the long development time that went into ''Doom 3'' which id Software had to release before licensing out that engine to others. Despite his enthusiasm for open source code, Carmack revealed in 2011 that he had no interest in licensing the technology to the mass market. Beginning with ''Wolfenstein 3D'', he felt bothered when third-party companies started "pestering" him to license the id tech engine, adding that he wanted to focus on new technology instead of providing support to existing ones. He felt very strongly that this was not why he signed up to be a game programmer for; to be "holding the hands" of other game developers. Carmack commended Epic Games for pursuing the licensing to the market beginning with Unreal Engine 3. Even though the said company has gained more success with its game engine than id Software over the years, Carmack had no regrets by his decision and continued to focus on open source until his departure from the company in 2013. In conjunction with his self-professed affinity for sharing

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the w ...

, John Carmack has open-sourced most of the major id Software engines under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general ...

. Historically, the

for each engine has been released once the code base is 5 years old. Consequently, many home grown projects have sprung up porting the code to different platforms, cleaning up the source code, or providing major modifications to the core engine. ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Doom'' and ''Quake'' engine ports are ubiquitous to nearly all platforms capable of running games, such as hand-held PCs, iPods, the PSP, the Nintendo DS and more. Impressive core modifications include DarkPlaces which adds stencil shadow volumes into the original ''Quake'' engine along with a more efficient network protocol. Another such project is

ioquake3 id Tech 3, popularly known as the ''Quake III Arena'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software for their video game ''Quake III Arena''. It has been adopted by numerous games. During its time, it competed with the Unreal Engine; bo ...

, which maintains a goal of cleaning up the source code, adding features and fixing bugs. Even earlier id Software code, namely for ''

Hovertank 3D ''Hovertank 3D'', also known under a variety of other names (''Hovertank'' or ''Hovertank One''), is a vehicular combat game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in April 1991. Plot ''Hovertank 3D'' is set during a nuclear war. In ...

'' and ''

Catacomb 3D ''Catacomb 3-D'' (also known as ''Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension'', ''Catacomb 3-D: The Descent'', and ''Catacombs 3'') is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the '' Catacomb'' series, the first of which to feature 3D computer graphics ...

'', was released in June 2014 by Flat Rock Software. The GPL release of the ''Quake III'' engine's source code was moved from the end of 2004 to August 2005 as the engine was still being licensed to commercial customers who would otherwise be concerned over the sudden loss in value of their recent investment. On August 4, 2011, John Carmack revealed during his

QuakeCon QuakeCon is a yearly convention held by ZeniMax Media to celebrate and promote the major franchises of id Software and other studios owned by ZeniMax. It includes a large, paid, bring-your-own-computer ( BYOC) LAN party event with a competitiv ...

2011 keynote that they will be releasing the source code of the ''

Doom 3 ''Doom 3'' is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ''Doom 3'' was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported ...

'' engine (

) during the year. id Software publicly stated they would not support the Wii console (possibly due to technical limitations), although they have since indicated that they may release titles on that platform (although it would be limited to their games released during the 1990s). They did the same thing with the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Th ...

but for Nintendo Switch, they collaborated with

Panic Button A panic alarm is an electronic device that can easily be activated to request help during an emergency situation where danger to persons or property exists. It is designed to minimize time until assistance can arrive. A panic alarm is freque ...

starting with 2016's ''

'' and '' Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus''. Since id Software revealed their engine

id Tech 5 id Tech 5 is a proprietary game engine developed by id Software. It followed its predecessors, id Tech 1, 2, 3 and 4, all of which had subsequently been published under the GNU General Public License. It was seen as a major advancement over ...

, they call their engines "

id Tech id Tech is a series of separate game engines designed and developed by id Software. Prior to the presentation of the id Tech 5-based game '' Rage'' in 2011, the engines lacked official designation and as such were simply referred to as the ''D ...

", followed by a version number. Older engines have retroactively been renamed to fit this scheme, with the ''Doom'' engine as id Tech 1.

Linux gaming

id Software was an early pioneer in the

Linux gaming Linux gaming refers to playing video games on a Linux operating system. History Linux gaming started largely as an extension of the already present Unix gaming scene, with both systems sharing many similar titles. These games were eithe ...

market, and id Software's

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

games have been some of the most popular of the platform. Many id Software games won the Readers' and Editors' Choice awards of Linux Journal. Some id Software titles ported to Linux are ''

'' (the first id Software game to be ported), '' Quake'', ''

Quake II ''Quake II'' is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the ''Quake'' series, but not a direct sequel to '' Quake''. The game's storyline is continued in its ...

'', ''

Quake III Arena ''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...

'', ''

Return to Castle Wolfenstein ''Return to Castle Wolfenstein'' is a first-person shooter video game published by Activision, released on November 19, 2001, for Microsoft Windows and subsequently for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Linux and Macintosh. The game serves as a reboot of the ...

'', '' Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory'', ''

'', ''

Quake 4 ''Quake 4'' is a 2005 military science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the fourth title in the ''Quake'' series, after the multiplayer ''Quake III Arena'', and a sequel to ' ...

'', and '' Enemy Territory: Quake Wars''. Since id Software and some of its licensees released the source code for some of their previous games, several games which were not ported (such as ''

'', ''

Spear of Destiny A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...

'', '' Heretic'', '' Hexen'', ''

Hexen II ''Hexen II'' is a dark fantasy first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed by Raven Software and published by id Software. It is the third game in the '' Hexen''/''Heretic'' series, and the last in the ''Serpent Riders'' trilogy. Using a modi ...

'', and '' Strife'') can run on Linux and other

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

s natively through the use of

source port A source port is a software project based on the source code of a game engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible. Description Source ports are often c ...

s. ''

Quake Live ''Quake Live'' is a first-person arena shooter video game by id Software. It is an updated version of ''Quake III Arena'' that was originally designed as a free-to-play game launched via a web browser plug-in. On September 17, 2014, the game wa ...

'' also launched with Linux support, although this, alongside OS X support, was later removed when changed to a standalone title. The tradition of porting to Linux was first started by Dave D. Taylor, with David Kirsch doing some later porting. Since ''

'', Linux porting had been handled by

Timothee Besset Timothée Besset is a French software programmer, (also known as TTimo), best known for supporting Linux, as well as some Macintosh, ports of id Software's products. He has been involved with the game ports of various id properties over the past ...

. The majority of all

games, including those made by other developers, have a Linux client available, the only current exceptions being '' Wolfenstein'' and ''

Brink Brink or ''variant'', may refer to: Places * Brink, Virginia, United States * Brink, West Virginia, an unincorporated community, United States * Brink, Greenbrier County, West Virginia, a ghost town, United States * Brink (norra delen), a loca ...

''. Similarly, almost all of the games utilizing the ''Quake II'' engine have Linux ports, the only exceptions being those created by

(''

Daikatana ''Daikatana'' is a 2000 first-person shooter game developed by Ion Storm. It was published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Kemco for Nintendo 64. Players control a swordsmaster who travels through various time periods in an effor ...

'' later received a community port). Despite fears by the Linux gaming community that

would not be ported to that platform, Timothee Besset in his blog stated "I'll be damned if we don't find the time to get Linux builds done". Besset explained that id Software's primary justification for releasing Linux builds was better code quality, along with a technical interest in the platform. However, on January 26, 2012, Besset announced that he had left id. John Carmack has expressed his stance with regard to Linux builds in the past. In December 2000 Todd Hollenshead expressed support for Linux: "All said, we will continue to be a leading supporter of the Linux platform because we believe it is a technically sound OS and is the OS of choice for many server ops." However, on April 25, 2012, Carmack revealed that "there are no plans for a native Linux client" of id's most recent game, '' Rage''. In February 2013, Carmack argued for improving

emulation Emulation may refer to: *Emulation (computing), imitation of behavior of a computer or other electronic system with the help of another type of system :*Video game console emulator, software which emulates video game consoles *Gaussian process em ...

as the "proper technical direction for gaming on Linux", though this was also due to ZeniMax's refusal to support "unofficial binaries", given all prior ports (except for ''Quake III Arena'', via

Loki Software Loki Software, Inc. (Loki Entertainment) was an American video game developer based in Tustin, California, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux. It took its name from the Norse deity Loki. Although successful in its ...

, and earlier versions of ''Quake Live'') having only ever been unofficial. Carmack didn't mention official games ''Quake: The Offering'' and ''Quake II: Colossus'' ported by id Software to Linux and published by Macmillan Computer Publishing USA. Despite no longer releasing native binaries, id was an early adopter of

Stadia Stadia may refer to: * One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums" * The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). * Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey * Stadi ...

, a cloud gaming service powered by

Debian Linux Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of De ...

servers, and the cross-platform

Vulkan API Vulkan is a low- overhead, cross-platform API, open standard for 3D graphics and computing. Vulkan targets high-performance real-time 3D graphics applications, such as video games and interactive media. Vulkan is intended to offer higher perform ...

Games

''Commander Keen''

'', a

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

in the style of those for the Nintendo Entertainment System, was one of the first

games with smooth horizontal-scrolling. Published by Apogee Software, the title and follow-ups brought id Software success as a shareware developer. It is the series of id Software that designer

is most affiliated with. The first ''Commander Keen'' trilogy was released on December 14, 1990.

''Wolfenstein''

The company's breakout product was released on May 5, 1992: ''

'', a

(FPS) with smooth 3D graphics that were unprecedented in computer games, and with violent gameplay that many gamers found engaging. After essentially founding an entire genre with this game, id Software created ''

'', '' Doom II: Hell on Earth'', '' Quake'', ''

'', ''

'', and ''

''. Each of these first-person shooters featured progressively higher levels of graphical technology. ''Wolfenstein 3D'' spawned a prequel and a sequel: the prequel called ''

'', and the second, ''

'', using the

id Tech 3 id Tech 3, popularly known as the ''Quake III Arena'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software for their video game ''Quake III Arena''. It has been adopted by numerous games. During its time, it competed with the Unreal Engine; bot ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

. A third ''Wolfenstein'' sequel, simply titled '' Wolfenstein'', was released by

Raven Software Raven Software Corporation is an American video game developer based in Wisconsin and founded in 1990. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them. After the acquisition, many of the stu ...

, using the

. Another sequel, named '' Wolfenstein: The New Order''; was developed by

MachineGames MachineGames Sweden AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Uppsala. The studio was founded in 2009 by seven former employees of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Högdahl. After unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several ...

using the

engine and released in 2014, with it getting a prequel by the name of '' Wolfenstein: The Old Blood'' a year later; followed by a direct sequel titled '' Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus'' in 2017.

''Doom''

Eighteen months after their release of ''Wolfenstein 3D'', on December 10, 1993, id Software released ''

'' which would again set new standards for graphic quality and graphic violence in computer gaming. ''Doom'' featured a

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

/ horror setting with graphic quality that had never been seen on personal computers or even

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

s. ''Doom'' became a cultural phenomenon and its violent theme would eventually launch a new wave of criticism decrying the dangers of violence in video games. ''Doom'' was ported to numerous platforms, inspired many knock-offs, and was eventually followed by the technically similar '' Doom II: Hell on Earth''. id Software made its mark in video game history with the shareware release of ''Doom'', and eventually revisited the theme of this game in 2004 with their release of ''

''. John Carmack said in an interview at QuakeCon 2007 that there would be a '' Doom 4''. It began development on May 7, 2008. ''

2016'', the fourth installation of the ''Doom'' series, was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 13, 2016, and was later released on Nintendo Switch on November 10, 2017. In June 2018, the sequel to the 2016 ''Doom'', ''

Doom Eternal ''Doom Eternal'' is a first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. The sequel to ''Doom'' (2016), and the sixth main game in the ''Doom'' series, it was released on March 20, 2020, for Windows, PlaySt ...

'' was officially announced at

E3 2018 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 (E3 2018) was the 24th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

with a teaser trailer, followed by a gameplay reveal at

in August 2018.

''Quake''

On June 22, 1996, the release of '' Quake'' marked the third milestone in id Software history. ''Quake'' combined a cutting edge fully 3D engine, the ''Quake'' engine, with a distinctive art style to create critically acclaimed graphics for its time. Audio was not neglected either, having recruited Nine Inch Nails frontman

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

to facilitate unique sound effects and ambient music for the game. (A small homage was paid to Nine Inch Nails in the form of the band's logo appearing on the ammunition boxes for the nailgun weapon.) It also included the work of

. Furthermore, ''Quakes main innovation, the capability to play a deathmatch (competitive gameplay between living opponents instead of against computer-controlled characters) over the Internet (especially through the add-on ''

QuakeWorld ''Quake'' is a first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive. The first game in the Quake (series), ''Quake'' series, it was originally released for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Linux in 1996, followed by ...

''), seared the title into the minds of gamers as another smash hit. In 2008, id Software was honored at the 59th Annual

Technology & Engineering Emmy Award The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, or Technology and Engineering Emmys, are one of two sets of Emmy Awards that are presented for outstanding achievement in engineering development in the television industry. The Technology and Enginee ...

s for the pioneering work ''Quake'' represented in user modifiable games. id Software is the only game development company ever honored twice by the

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

, having been given an Emmy Award in 2007 for creation of the 3D technology that underlies modern

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

video games. The ''Quake'' series continued with ''

'' in 1997. Activision purchased a 49% stake in id Software, making it a second party which took publishing duties until 2009. However, the game is not a storyline sequel, and instead focuses on an assault on an alien planet, Stroggos, in retaliation for

Strogg ''Quake'' is a series of first-person shooter video games, developed by id Software and, as of 2010, published by Bethesda Softworks. The series is composed of the Quake (video game), eponymous game from 1996 and its nonlinear, standalone seque ...

attacks on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. Most of the subsequent entries in the ''Quake'' franchise follow this storyline. ''

'' (1999), the next title in the series, has minimal plot, but centers around the "Arena Eternal", a gladiatorial setting created by an alien race known as the Vadrigar and populated by combatants plucked from various points in time and space. Among these combatants are some characters either drawn from or based on those in ''Doom'' ("

Doomguy The Doomguy (also spelt Doom Guy, as well as referred to as the Doom Marine, Doom Slayer or just the Slayer in ''Doom'' (2016) and '' Doom Eternal'') is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ''Doom'' video game franchise of first-perso ...

"), ''Quake'' (Ranger, Wrack), and ''Quake II'' (Bitterman, Tank Jr., Grunt, Stripe). ''

Quake IV ''Quake 4'' is a 2005 military science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the fourth title in the ''Quake'' series, after the multiplayer ''Quake III Arena'', and a sequel to ' ...

'' (2005) picks up where ''Quake II'' left off – finishing the war between the humans and Strogg. The spin-off '' Enemy Territory: Quake Wars'' acts as a prequel to ''Quake II'', when the Strogg first invade Earth. ''Quake IV'' and ''Enemy Territory: Quake Wars'' were made by outside developers and not id. There have also been other spin-offs such as Quake Mobile in 2005 and ''

'', an internet browser based modification of ''Quake III''. A game called ''Quake Arena DS'' was planned and canceled for the Nintendo DS. John Carmack stated, at

2007, that the ''

'' engine would be used for a new ''Quake'' game.

''Rage''

Todd Hollenshead announced in May 2007 that id Software had begun working on an all new series that would be using a new engine. Hollenshead also mentioned that the title would be completely developed in-house, marking the first game since 2004's ''

'' to be done so. At 2007's

WWDC The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in t ...

, John Carmack showed the new engine called

. Later that year, at

2007, the title of the new game was revealed as '' Rage''. On July 14, 2008, id Software announced at the 2008 E3 event that they would be publishing ''Rage'' through

, and not id's longtime publisher

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

. However, since then ZeniMax has also announced that they are publishing ''Rage'' through Bethesda Softworks. On August 12, 2010, during Quakecon 2010, id Software announced ''Rage'' US ship date of September 13, 2011, and a European ship date of September 15, 2011. During the keynote, id Software also demonstrated a ''Rage'' spin-off title running on the iPhone. This technology demo later became ''Rage HD''. The game was ultimately released in October 2011. On May 14, 2018, Bethesda Softworks announced ''

Rage 2 ''Rage 2'' is a 2019 first-person shooter video game developed by Avalanche Studios in conjunction with id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is the sequel to the 2011 game ''Rage (video game), Rage''. The game was released f ...

'', a co-development between id Software and Avalanche Studios.

Other games

During its early days, id Software produced much more varied games; these include the early 3D first-person shooter experiments that led to ''

'' and ''

'' – ''

'' and ''

''. There was also the ''

Rescue Rover ''Rescue Rover'' is a puzzle video game that was developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in 1991. The game was distributed as shareware, with the first 10 levels making up the shareware version, and another 20 levels being present in the ...

'' series, which had two games – ''Rescue Rover'' and ''Rescue Rover 2''. Also there was

's ''

'' series, which included such notables as the tech demo (''In Copyright Infringement'') which led to the ''

'' engine, and the decently popular ''

Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion ''Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'' (also known as ''Dangerous Dave 2'' and under the Froggman title, ''Rooms of Doom'') is a 1991 sequel of the computer game ''Dangerous Dave''. It was created by John Romero, John Carmack, Adrian Carma ...

''. ''In the Haunted Mansion'' was powered by the same engine as the earlier id Software game ''

Shadow Knights ''Shadow Knights - The Shogun of Death'' (Also known as "Budo - The Art of Ninja Combat") is a platform game created by id Software and published by Softdisk in 1991. Shadow Knights was the first game created for Softdisk, who paid $5000 for it as ...

'', which was one of the several games written by id Software to fulfill their contractual obligation to produce games for

, where the id Software founders had been employed. id Software has also overseen several games using its technology that were not made in one of their IPs such as ''

'', (early-

id Tech 1 id Tech 1, also known as the ''Doom'' engine, is the game engine that powers the id Software games ''Doom'' and '' Doom II: Hell on Earth''. It is also used in '' Heretic'', '' Hexen: Beyond Heretic'', '' Strife: Quest for the Sigil'', '' Hacx ...

), '' Heretic'', '' Hexen: Beyond Heretic'' (id Tech 1), ''

'' ( ''Quake'' engine), and '' Orcs and Elves'' ('' Doom RPG'' engine).

Other media

id Software has also published novels based on the ''Doom'' series ''Doom'' novels. After a brief hiatus from publishing, id resumed and re-launched the novel series in 2008 with Matthew J. Costello's (a story consultant for ''

'' and now '' Rage'') new ''Doom 3'' novels: '' Worlds on Fire'' and ''

Maelstrom Maelstrom may refer to: * Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool ** originally the Moskstraumen in English Amusement rides * Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort ...

''. id Software became involved in film development when they oversaw the film adaption of their ''

'' franchise in 2005. In August 2007,

stated at QuakeCon 2007 that a ''

'' movie is in development which re-teams the ''

Silent Hill is a horror anthology media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four video games in the series, '' Silent Hill'', ''Silent Hill 2'', ''Silent Hill 3'' and '' ...

'' writer/producer team,

Roger Avary Roger Roberts Avary (born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian-American film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. He collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on ''Pulp Fiction'', for which they won Best Original Screenplay at the 67th Acade ...

as writer and director and

Samuel Hadida Samuel Hadida (17 December 1953 – 26 November 2018) was a Moroccan-born French film producer. Life and career Hadida was born in Casablanca, Morocco. In 1978, he co-founded the company Metropolitan Filmexport with his brother Victor. The com ...

as producer. A new ''Doom'' film, titled '' Doom: Annihilation'', was released in 2019, although id itself stressed its lack of involvement.

Controversy

id Software was the target of controversy over two of their most popular games, ''

'' and the earlier ''

''. More recently in 2022, id Software found themselves mired in a controversy concerning libel against Doom Eternal's composer.

''Doom''

''Doom'' was notorious for its high levels of

gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...

and occultism along with satanic imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups.

Yahoo! Games Yahoo! Games was a section of the Yahoo! website, launched on March 31, 1998, in which Yahoo! users could play games either with other users or by themselves. The majority of Yahoo! Games was closed down on March 31, 2014 and the balance was clos ...

listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time. The game again sparked controversy throughout a period of

school shooting A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of firearms. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple c ...

s in the United States when it was found that

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold Eric David Harris (April 9, 1981 – April 20, 1999) and Dylan Bennet Klebold (; September 11, 1981 – April 20, 1999) were an American mass murder duo who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. Harris and Klebo ...

, who committed the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, were avid players of the game. While planning for the massacre, Harris said that the killing would be "like playing ''Doom''", and "it'll be like the

LA riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, in April ...

, the Oklahoma bombing,

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, ''

Duke Nukem ''Duke Nukem'' is a video game series named for its main character, Duke Nukem. Created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. (now 3D Realms) as a series of video games for personal computers, the series expanded to games released for various co ...

'' and ''Doom'' all mixed together", and that his shotgun was "straight out of the game". A rumor spread afterwards that Harris had designed a ''Doom'' level that looked like the high school, populated with representations of Harris's classmates and teachers, and that Harris practiced for his role in the shootings by playing the level over and over. Although Harris did design ''Doom'' levels, none of them were based on

Columbine High School Columbine High School (CHS) is a public high school in Columbine, Colorado, United States, in the Denver metropolitan area. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district. In 1999, it became the scene of an infamous mass shooti ...

. While ''Doom'' and other violent video games have been blamed for nationally covered school shootings, 2008 research featured by

Greater Good Science Center The Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) is a center located at the University of California, Berkeley. Introduction The center was founded by Dacher Keltner in 2001, with a donation from UC Berkeley alumni Thomas and Ruth Hornaday following the d ...

shows that the two are not closely related.

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

researchers Cheryl Olson and Lawrence Kutner found that violent video games did not correlate to school shootings. The

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

and

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departmen ...

analyzed 37 incidents of school violence and sought to develop a profile of school shooters; they discovered that the most common traits among shooters were that they were male and had histories of depression and attempted suicide. While many of the killers—like the vast majority of young teenage boys—did play video games, this study did not find a relationship between gameplay and school shootings. In fact, only one-eighth of the shooters showed any special interest in violent video games, far less than the number of shooters who seemed attracted to books and movies with violent content.

''Wolfenstein 3D''

As for ''Wolfenstein 3D'', due to its use of Nazi symbols such as the swastika and the anthem of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

, ''

Horst-Wessel-Lied The "" ("Horst Wessel Song"; ), also known by its opening words "" ("Raise the Flag", ), was the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first sta ...

'', as theme music, the PC version of the game was withdrawn from circulation in Germany in 1994, following a verdict by the Amtsgericht München on January 25, 1994. Despite the fact that Nazis are portrayed as the enemy in ''Wolfenstein'', the use of those symbols is a federal offense in Germany unless certain circumstances apply. Similarly, the Atari Jaguar version was confiscated following a verdict by the Amtsgericht Berlin Tiergarten on December 7, 1994. Due to concerns from Nintendo of America, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES version was modified to not include any swastikas or Nazi references; furthermore, blood was replaced with sweat to make the game seem less violent, and the attack dogs in the game were replaced by giant mutant rats. Employees of id Software are quoted in ''The Official DOOM Player Guide'' about the reaction to ''Wolfenstein'', claiming it to be ironic that it was morally acceptable to shoot people and rats, but not dogs. Two new weapons were added as well. The Super NES version was not as successful as the PC version.

Soundtrack dispute

In May of 2020, after the Doom Eternal Original Soundtrack was released, there was a serious backlash to the Doom Eternal OST and accusations of low quality work that did not match composer Mick Gordon (composer), Mick Gordon's usual standards. On April 19, Gordon confirmed on Twitter that it was not his work, and Marty Stratton subsequently posted on May 20 a 2,500-word open letter on Reddit blaming Gordon for everything that went wrong with the process of creating music for the soundtrack. Following this, public outcry against Gordon reached a level where he received explicit death threats and graphic messages of intent to harm him and his family. Gordon's message accounts, servers, and phones were allegedly inundated with abuse to extreme levels, seriously impacting his mental health. On November 9, 2022, Mick published a 14,000-word article on Medium (website), Medium explaining his side of the story as a defensive rebuttal of the nine outlined accusations in Stratton's post (described as "an extensive series of lies"), substantiated with various forms of evidence including photographs of emails, receipts, and file metadata to verify his claims. It included claims that Gordon had yet to receive over half of his payment for his work and awards from the soundtrack's nominations at The Game Awards 2020 Stratton had reportedly claimed to deliver on Gordon's behalf; that his name had been listed on the OST's pre-order for weeks before Bethesda had contracted him to work on it just 48 hours before the game's release; Mossholder had been composing an alternate version of the OST as early as August 2019, and in response to request from Gordon's lawyers for Stratton's Reddit post to be removed, he was offered six figures in exchange for a lifetime gag order, but never the possibility of Stratton's defamatory post being removed. On November 16, 2022 Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda released a statement backing Marty Stratton, Chad Mossholder, and everyone in the id software team. Their statement further claimed that they had evidence to rebut Gordon's claims, without releasing mentioned evidence, and expressed concern that his statement enticed harassment and violence towards the team.

People

In 2003, the book ''

'' chronicled the development of id Software, concentrating on the personalities and interaction of John Carmack and John Romero. Below are the key people involved with id's success.

John Carmack

Carmack's skill at 3D computer graphics, 3D computer programming, programming is widely recognized in the software industry and from its inception, he was id's lead programmer. On August 7, 2013, he joined

, a company developing virtual reality headsets, and left id Software on November 22, 2013.

John Romero

John Romero saw the horizontal scrolling demo ''Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement'' and immediately had the idea to form id Software on September 20, 1990. Romero pioneered the game engine licensing business with his "id Summer Seminar" in 1991 where the Keen4 engine was licensed to Apogee for Biomenace. John also worked closely with the DOOM community and was the face of id to its fans. One success of this engagement was the fan-made game ''Final DOOM'', published in 1996. John also created the control scheme for the FPS, and the abstract level design style of DOOM that influenced many 3D games that came after it. John added par times to Wolfenstein 3D, and then DOOM, which started the phenomenon of Speedrunning. Romero wrote almost all the tools that enabled id Software and many others to develop games with id Software's technology. Romero was forced to resign in 1996 after the release of '' Quake'', then later formed the company

. There, he became infamous through the development of ''

'', which was received negatively from reviewers and gamers alike upon release. Afterward, Romero co-founded The Guildhall in Dallas, Texas, served as chairman of the CPL eSports league, created an MMORPG publisher and developer named Gazillion Entertainment, created a hit Facebook game named Ravenwood Fair that garnered 25 million monthly players in 2011, and started Romero Games in Galway, Ireland in 2015.Romero Games Both Tom Hall and John Romero have reputations as designers and idea men who have helped shape some of the key PC gaming titles of the 1990s.

Tom Hall

Tom Hall was forced to resign by id Software during the early days of ''Doom'' development, but not before he had some impact; for example, he was responsible for the inclusion of teleporters in the game. He was let go before the shareware release of ''Doom'' and then went to work for Apogee, developing ''Rise of the Triad'' with the "Developers of Incredible Power". When he finished work on that game, he found he was not compatible with the ''Prey (2006 video game), Prey'' development team at Apogee, and therefore left to join his ex-id Software compatriot John Romero at

. Hall has frequently commented that if he could obtain the rights to ''

'', he would immediately develop another Keen title.

Sandy Petersen

Sandy Petersen was a level designer for 19 of the 27 levels in the original ''Doom'' title as well as 17 of the 32 levels of ''Doom II''. As a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, his influence is apparent in the Lovecraftian feel of the monsters for ''Quake'', and he created ''Inferno'', the third "episode" of the first ''Doom''. He was forced to resign from id Software during the production of ''Quake II'' and most of his work was scrapped before the title was released.

American McGee

American McGee was a

for ''Doom II'', ''The Ultimate Doom'', ''Quake'', and ''Quake II''. He was asked to resign after the release of ''Quake II'', and he then moved to

where he gained industry notoriety with the development of his own game ''

''. After leaving Electronic Arts, he became an independent entrepreneur and game developer. McGee headed the independent game development studio Spicy Horse in Shanghai, China from 2007 to 2016.

References

Literature

* Kushner, David (2003). ''Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture'', New York: Random House. .

External links

* {{Authority control Id Software, American companies established in 1991 American corporate subsidiaries 1991 establishments in Louisiana Microsoft subsidiaries 2009 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Richardson, Texas Video game companies based in Texas Video game companies established in 1991 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies ZeniMax Media