Id faces fourth Doom

Shortly before Doom 3 launched to much fanfare--and solid sales--in August 2004, id Software announced it was working on an all-new IP. That turned out to be Rage, a visually innovative, open-world driving and shooting game first unveiled at the MacWorld Expo last year. The game was a marked departure from the Texan studio's signature Quake and Doom series, whose future remained shrouded in mystery.

Although the possibility of a Quake 5 remains up in the air, id today formally announced that work is beginning on Doom 4. Typically such announcements are accompanied by bluster, but id took a different approach, using the news to hang up a big "now hiring" sign on its suburban Dallas headquarters, saying it was "expanding its internal team."

"Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth," id CEO Todd Hollenshead said in a statement. "It's critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles."

Though the Doom 4 announcement carefully avoided any mention of platforms, it did direct potential hires to id's official jobs page. There, every single job listing has "PlayStation 3, 360, and PC" as "applicable platforms." Many are specifically for Rage, but a listing for a cinematic art director asks for "an experienced and creative visionary...who want[s] to apply their craft to the development of legendary id brands like Quake and Doom" for the "PC, Xbox 360, [and] PS3."

Reps for id declined to comment on the listings or on any potential Doom 4 release date.

Traditionally, id has focused on the PC, farming out port duties--such as the Xbox Doom 3--to external operations. However, since Doom 3's release, the studio has shifted to focus on not only next-generation consoles, but also on the Mac platform as well, as revealed by the Rage announcement.