Double Doom 3 delay

Doom 3 fans got a double dose of déjà vu today. During a post-earnings report conference call, Activision revealed that both the Xbox version of Doom 3 and the first expansion pack for the PC edition, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, have slipped from their previously announced March 2005 ship dates. The latter is being developed by id Software, while Vicarious Visions is working on the former under id's supervision.

While talking about the financial outlook for the fourth quarter of the publisher's 2005 fiscal year, Activision CEO Ronald Doornink said: "The company also increased its outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005 to $150 million in net revenues from $128 million, despite moving id Software's Doom 3 for the Xbox and the Doom 3 PC expansion pack to fiscal 2006."

Activision's 2005 fiscal year ends on March 31, meaning that the earliest either game could ship would be Friday, April 1. However, since games usually ship on Mondays or Tuesdays, a more likely earliest possible date for the dual Doom 3s is Tuesday, April 5. Doornink lent credence to that scenario while speaking to analysts. "On the Doom SKU question, our confidence level is very high that those SKUs will be released in April." However, in the eternal words of id Software, each game won't be ready "until it's done."

For more information on Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil and Doom 3 for the Xbox, look at each game's respective previous coverage. For more on the PC Doom 3, read Greg Kasavin's full review.