Earlier this year we got the sequel to 2016’s DOOM, the pseudo-reboot of the legendary series, with DOOM Eternal. It came out for most major platforms and was supposed to come out at the same time for the Switch, but was ultimately delayed on that platform. There was a long time of silence on that version of the title, making some wonder if it had been canceled, but it re-emerged as digital only release that will launch tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see what state it will be in, but whatever it looks like, it seems it was quite the challenge to get there.
Speaking with NintendoEverything, Senior Producer Cody Nicewarner and Lead Engineer Travis Archer at Panic Button, who is handling the Switch port, revealed bringing the title to Nintendo’s hybrid has been quite the feat. They compared it to their other Bethesda projects (they’ve handled all of the previous ones), and said this was on another level and one of the reasons for the lengthy delays was translating the ambitious project.
“When we took on the project we knew that DOOM Eternal was going to be a large undertaking that would require every ounce of experience we had. We’ve obviously had previous experience working with the idTech engine to bring games like DOOM (2016), Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood to Nintendo Switch. But DOOM Eternal is on another level entirely. Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin have both talked about DOOM Eternal being one of the most ambitious projects in id Software’s history, and we couldn’t agree more. Faithfully recreating that ambition for Nintendo Switch players took a little extra time. We’re confident it will be worth the wait!”
DOOM Eternal did have a lot more going on at an even faster pace than the 2016 title, so it’s not hard to see how it could be quite the challenge. We know little about the Switch version, but we won’t get to see it in all its glory until tomorrow, December 8th, on the system- so stay tuned. The game is currently available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia.