First Three Doom Games Now on PS4, Xbox One, & Switch

The original Doom, Doom 2, and Doom 3 have now been ported to this generation of consoles, as well as iOS and Android devices. That’s all well and good. Because this is Bethesda, though, things can never be that simple. In order to play the ports, you have to sign into a free Bethesda account when you first turn the games on. You only have to do it that one time, but it still sucks, especially if you just don’t want a Bethesda account, because that’s the one thing that consoles have over PC.

Say, do you want to play the first three Doom games on your console from this generation? Or, hell, even on your Android or iOS device? Well, thanks to the new ports of the classic titles, now you can. 1992’s Doom, 1994’s Doom 2, and their inferior sibling Doom 3, are now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, as well as mobile devices. The first two cost five bucks each, and Doom 3 is ten. This is all great news, right?

Well, it’s not all sunshine and demon viscera. In order to access these games, you first have to sign into a free Bethesda account. After that, you can play normally and offline, but still, you can’t avoid this step. That’s sneaky Bethesda, that’s real sneaky. Naturally, this has caused some frustration among fans, which is completely understandable. Not everybody that got the ports has a Bethesda account, and I’d imagine a fair number of them doesn’t want one, either. Naughty Bethesda! They have said that it was supposed to be optional, and they’ll be patching it out soon, which is nice.

So, yeah, the ports of Doom, Doom 2, and Doom 3 seem to be a Trojan-horse type thing, which Bethesda is using to get more people to sign up for a Bethesda account. Of course, they chose the perfect moment. Doom Eternal is coming out on November 22nd on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One (also PC and Google Stadia). So, it’s a perfect moment to use these ports to both promote the new game, and also boost subscription numbers. While I do understand the logic behind it all, I can’t help but at least chuckle at how cynical the move is.