8 Times Fan Backlash Killed Video Game Sequels

6. DOOM 4

If you were there at the time, you KNOW just how volatile the response to DOOM 3 was.

Longtime fans were furious this once arcadey, heavy metal-backed tornado of chainsaws and explosions had become a corridor-crawling survival horror with a worse shotgun. They despised the very notion of having to switch weapons to equip a flashlight, as it fundamentally broke the core ethos of what DOOM "is".

Behind the scenes though, iD Software were already preparing to continue running with the idea of DOOM as something far more generic.

Developing DOOM 4 alongside what would eventually become 2011's RAGE, a mix of overwhelmingly negative responses to DOOM 3 and Bethesda stepping in to can the project alongside, led to this sequel being abandoned altogether.

DOOM's existing departments were overhauled, Hugo Martin was appointed one of the creative directors, and the overblown, self-aware, "let's have fun with action movie tropes and carnage" feel of modern DOOM was put in motion.