Update: Bethesda Softworks" spokesperson Pete Hines updated his Twitter page with the following post: "DOOM 4 rumor, games are done when they are done and no title under development at id has been postponed – indefinitely or otherwise."
Original Story: If a new rumor is to be believed, gamers who have been waiting patiently for id Software to release its promised next Doom game may be waiting for a lot longer than originally thought. Kotaku reports via unnamed sources that id"s owner and publisher Bethesda Softworks has made the decision to "indefinitely postpone" the development of Doom 4. The story, which uses unnamed sources, claims that the decision was announced recently at id Software"s headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Eurogamer got word back from Bethesda saying it does not respond to rumors.
The story"s source claims that Bethesda made the decision because of "the issues and reviews" surrounding Rage, the long-in-development shooter from id that was released earlier this month. While the game"s reviews leaned toward the positive side (Metacritic"s average review scores showed 83 for the PS3 version, 81 for the Xbox 360 version and 79 for the PC port) there were graphics issues with the PC version which id claimed were mostly related to graphics drivers from NVIDIA and AMD. id Software"s main programmer John Carmack even admitted earlier this month that the graphics driver problems with the PC release of Rage "have been a real cluster !@#$." Kotaku"s story also claims that Bethesda now has "a serious lack of confidence in the project management at id." So far there"s no word on sales numbers for Rage.
Doom 4, the latest game in the shooter series that is also id"s flagship game franchise, was first announced by id back in 2008, one year after the developer first announced Rage. In 2009, Bethesda Softworks acquired id Software; since then neither Bethesda nor id have commented on what Doom 4 would actually be like, preferring to concentrate their marketing on Rage"s release.