Xbox boss Phil Spencer believes “everyone deserves to play” Doom: The Dark Ages, which is why the title will be released on PlayStation 5. Not only will Sony’s console players be able to experience the next Doom title, but they won’t even need to wait any longer than their Xbox peers.
The newest entry in the Doom franchise was revealed at the Xbox showcase at Summer Games Fest, and while it will be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass, it won’t be a Microsoft exclusive. Instead, Doom: The Dark Ages will be released simultaneously on PlayStation 5 when the game drops on a yet-to-be-confirmed date in 2025, serving as further evidence of Xbox’s willingness to share with Sony.
Though this isn’t a new approach for Doom as Doom: Eternal also released on PlayStation, it comes at a time when Microsoft is ready to ditch the platform-exclusive approach it has clung to in the past, having brought Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush to Sony consoles already this year.
With Doom: The Dark Ages, however, it doesn’t appear to be a marketing ploy to earn favor among PlayStation users and increase the clamor for exclusives to be ditched entirely and instead is due to a meeting with id Software studio director Marty Stratton.
Speaking at IGN Live, Spencer explained that Doom is “one of those franchises that has a history of so many platforms” and is a franchise that “everyone deserves to play.” However, it seems the decision wasn’t Spencer’s entirely. The Xbox chief shared a snippet of a conversation he had with Stratton a few years ago when, after asking the studio director what approach he wanted to take, Stratton said “he wanted to sell it on all platforms.”
Microsoft and Spencer’s willingness to share with Sony doesn’t appear to have been reciprocated just yet and it may have stung to see LEGO Horizon Adventures, announced at last week’s PlayStation showcase, coming to Nintendo Switch and PC but not to Xbox.
