Of course, one reason we haven’t heard anything is perhaps due to its sheer scale. Creative director Hugo Martin said in a recent Slayers Club livestream that it’s “massive. It’s so big. Look, guys, I know that it’s been ultimately a while since we shipped the main game and you’re waiting for the DLC, but just know that it’s freaking huge. It’s basically like a sequel. I mean, that’s what it feels like, it’s just ginormous.”

In terms of what it has to offer, it seems that players can look forward to a new spear which is capable of dashing. Furthermore, Martin said the DLC is “nothing like” the base game, implying a much higher skill ceiling. And those who hated the removal of quickswapping from Eternal should take note – it apparently returns, but as an unlockable. “It’s done in a way that you aren’t anticipating.”

The only downside is that it’s a “little way out” for the teaser trailer. Does that mean we’ll see it at Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase or perhaps during QuakeCon in August? Either way, it wouldn’t be surprising if it arrived in early 2027, given how much id Software is hyping up its size.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is available on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC – check out our review here. It reached three million players shortly after launch, becoming id Software’s biggest in history. However, it’s also available on Game Pass, so actual sales figures remain a mystery.

The post is a the latest iteration of the Xbox Excellence Awards, which was created last year to celebrate how players engaged with various releases on Xbox. The Store Rating category lists 2025 games with the best ratings on the Microsoft Store, with an added requirement of the title having at least 500 ratings. Player Engagements is about the average number of hours spent on a game by each player within the first six weeks of a game’s release. Daily Active Users celebrates titles, expansions or updates with the highest single-day active users throughout the year. And finally Units Sold is fairly self-explanatory.

Going down the lists, you’ll find many of the biggest releases of the year, from ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, as well as award-winning RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Indie titles have also been well-represented, with games like Crime Scene Cleaner and Satisfactory making it into the lists. There also doesn’t seem to have been a singular genre to dominate the lists, since everything from sports games like EA Sports Madden NFL 26, to fantasy adventure life sims like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and even fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics are well represented.

Curiously, none of the games was present in all four of the categories. At most, we got to see titles like Borderlands 4 being able to make it on to three of them: Player Engagement, Daily Active Users and Units Sold. Even ARC Raiders, which has seen quite a bit of success, is only on the Units Sold and Daily Active Users lists.

Microsoft has also emphasized that the lists represent a diverse collection of games developed by studios of varying sizes. All in all, it represents 48 unique developers based out of 13 countries, with 24 publishers having had a hand in their release. 19 of the games were self-published. “Taken as a whole, it’s an encapsulation of development on Xbox – we want gaming to reach you wherever you are, and for the teams making those games to find you from wherever they are,” wrote the company.

Full list of games:

Store Rating:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Crime Scene Cleaner
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dreamcore
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Lies of P: Overture
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Little Nightmares III
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• Minami Lane
• Mullet MadJack
• Poppy Playtime Chapter 4
• Satisfactory
• Silent Hill 2
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Player Engagement:

• Borderlands 4
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Farm Together 2
• Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles
• Helldivers 2
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• NHL 26
• Rust
• Satisfactory
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Daily Active Users:

• Arc Raiders
• Avowed
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• DOOM: The Dark Ages
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fortnite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Grounded 2
• Helldivers 2
• Marvel Rivals
• Minecraft
• NBA 2K26
• Rematch
• Roblox
• Rocket League
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Units Sold:

• Arc Raiders
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• EA Sports Madden NFL 26
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Helldivers 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• PGA Tour 2K25
• Ready or Not
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• WWE 2K25

The event is taking things closer to home for Texas-based id Software, with its venue fixed at Grapevine, Texas. While it’s more community-focused than some of the other big gaming events of the year, there is scope for potential announcements from either id Software or Bethesda.

For starters, we could see id dropping some details on its story DLC to DOOM: The Dark Ages, a prequel that’s been quite well-received by fans and critics alike, and a game that we hold in high regard as a fine addition to the franchise.

There’s a very low chance that Bethesda could appear and maybe finally address rumors about Fallout 5, Fallout 3 Remaster, and maybe even Fallout: New Vegas Remaster. Unlikely? Sure, but that’s the beauty of QuakeCon – you never really know what to expect.

We might even get news of a new Quake title given the occasion. Fingers crossed on that one!

https://x.com/QuakeCon/status/2019203067980263785

As a re-release of Raven Software’s acclaimed fantasy first-person shooters, Heretic + Hexen includes the base games and their expansions, Shadow of the Serpent Riders and Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. However, Nightdive included two new episodes – Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur – for a total of 117 campaign maps.

All 120 Deathmatch maps are included as well, with cross-platform co-op and PvP for up to 16 players. You can also play split-screen co-op and deathmatch with up to eight players. Fans can also look forward to 4K support and up to 120 frames per second on current-gen and PC, new accessibility options, widescreen support, a Vault showcasing concept art and other development material, and modern controller support.

Of course, there’s also an in-game mod browser with support for community-made mods, just like DOOM + DOOM 2. Head here for an FAQ with more details.

Players can essentially select one of three areas, the music, and which enemies they’d like to appear. Tweak their parameters and the waves, then hop in to slay them within the time limit. id Software is looking to further adjust the Ripatorium in future updates, so this is only the beginning.

Update 2 also brings numerous balance adjustments to the campaign, Atlan mech, and Dragon mount. New options include a slider for the slow motion that triggers on melee and parries, and a setting for weapon class switching. Weapon swapping in general is much quicker, and the team has performed a pass on all the audio to ensure the correct music when things get heavy.

Check out some of the weapon changes and details below (beware of spoilers), and the full patch notes here.

Update 2 Notes

Weapons

• Increased speed of Weapon Swap animations

Rail Spike Impaler

Balance adjustments including:

• Reduced Impaler damage vs. Hellknight and Vagary demons
• Reduced Impaler damage vs. armored demons
• Put further emphasis on Impaler headshots by increasing headshot damage, and reducing non-headshot damage vs. various demons
• Shield Throws that deflect off of larger demons no longer drop Impaler ammo when the Stalwart upgrade is equipped
• Reduced the amount of Mace charge received from headshots with the Lobotomy upgrade

Plasma Rifle Class

• Lowered base ammo on Plasma Rifle Cycler
• Adjusted value of ammo capacity increase earned through Demonic Essence upgrades
• Lowered maximum ammo capacity of Plasma Rifle Cycler

Super Shotgun

• Reduced Super Shotgun damage vs. Hellknight, Mancubus, Pinky Rider, Cosmic Baron
• Reduced Super Shotgun damage vs. armored demons
• Player can now interrupt the Super Shotgun reload to perform executions

Chainshot

• Lowered starting ammo capacity

Dreadmace

• Executions performed with the Dreadmace equipped now drop the same amount of ammo as executions performed with other melee weapons. The amount of ammo dropped as a result of other Mace attacks has not changed
• Reduced Dreadmace AOE damage, increased Dreadmace direct-hit damage to compensate for AOE damage reduction
• Parrying a Hell Surge attack drops less Dreadmace charge
• Drops triggered as a result of Impaler headshots with the Lobotomy upgrade equipped drop less Dreadmace charge

Gauntlet

• Lowered the amount of charge received via Duelist upgrade

Shield Saw

• Removed the slight cooldown on Shield Throw after catching it from a previous throw action
• Refined Shield Saw parry detection

Atlan

Stomp

• Adjusted Stomp behavior to apply an electrical stun and shock state to enemies
• VFX and audio adjustments to accompany this change
• When attacking shocked enemies, the Atlan will punch faster
• Updated the tutorials to cover the new behavior

Encounters

• Updated Atlan encounters to account for new Stomp behavior

Dragon

• Extended empowered shot time
• Updated Anti-Dragon AI’s projectile attacks in the tutorial section to include line attacks and remove the hourglass projectile
• Improved tutorial messaging for assault mode dash directions
• Added new HUD elements to indicate when the player should initiate assault mode and dodge actions
• Shortened the delay time for AI firing projectiles after lock-on
• Players will now skip straight to the Holy City of Aratum if tutorials are turned off

Enemy AI

• Made the Kreed Maykr fight more challenging
• Extended the range on Prince Ahzrak’s spear
• The Old One’s Aerial Slam damage radius now covers the entire arena
• FX and SFX have been added
• Increased the AOE of the waveblast from the Komodo’s Graviton arm attack
• Completed a pass on AI logic events to ensure they are stopping correctly when AI pain reactions are triggered
• The Pinky bite attack has been updated with new animations, FX and audio to help the attack read better
• HP buffs have been added to the Cacodemon, Mancubus, and Armored Mancubus.
• Addressed the Chaingunner Soldier’s target acquisition, fire rate, and overall player responsiveness
• Pinky Rider leader now fires shield projectiles at the start of the flame wall attack instead of basic fire projectiles
• Increased Mancubus Flamethrower damage
• Increased Mancubus Fireball speed and size

As spotted by Reddit user kjurban, the comment by Nightdive said “All eyes, I mean Orbbs will be on that announcement lolol.” For context, Orbb is one of the new playable characters from Quake 3 Arena. The character is essentially a large eyeball on a small metal body with organic legs.

This report would indicate that the announcement by Nightdive Studios will likely happen at the upcoming QuakeCon – a yearly event that celebrates games made by id Software, both modern and classic. Traditionally, QuakeCon has served as a home to quite a few classic game announcements, including the Nightdive-developed enhanced release of classic shooter Quake 2, which was unveiled at QuakeCon 2023.

Considering Nightdive’s history with remastering classic games to modern audiences, complete with quite a lot of work to ensuring they work well with modern hardware, the studio seems like the obvious choice to bring back the multiplayer-only Quake 3 Arena.

When it was originally released back in 1999, Quake 3 Arena broke the trends set by its predecessors by being multiplayer-only. A single-player game mode was available, which pit players against AI-controlled characters in the various multiplayer maps and modes that the game launched with.

As was tradition for id Software at the time, Quake 3 Arena also served as the introduction to several new graphical technologies for the series. This included spline-based curved surfaces, allowing for more varied level design, as well as advanced AI with more difficulty options.

Quake 3 Arena was quite popular when it was first released, eventually spawning a dedicated player base that these days lives on through Quake Live. It would get quite a bit of support over the years, both from id Software thanks to the release of the Quake 3: Team Arena expansion, which brought in a host of team-based game modes and maps, as well as from the community itself, which made several maps and mods for the game.

Nightdive Studios is relatively fresh off the release of System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster, which came out on PC back in June. The console version of the game – available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch – was released just a month later in July.

For more details about the remastered classic sci-fi horror game, check out our review, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10, praising the gameplay, narrative, pacing, and revamped visuals, while criticising weapon degradation and some skills being poorly balanced.

It’s also become the 11th best-selling title of the year to date. Monster Hunter Wilds still rules the roost, followed by The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The other big new release of the month, id Software’s DOOM: The Dark Ages, ranked in second place on its debut.

The first-person shooter became the developer’s biggest launch in history, and also ranked second in physical and digital sales for PS5 and PC in the US. Despite also launching on day one for Game Pass, it ranked third on Xbox sales charts.

Total projected spending rose by one percent to $4.1 billion year-over-year, but year-to-date trails 2024 by six percent at $21.8 billion.

The studio has also noted that quite a few of these changes are from a previous set of Tunables – smaller balance changes that don’t usually require a full patch. These have been marked as being (*PT). Before this update, the most recent tunables were from the end of May, which also consisted of a host of balance changes.

DOOM: The Dark Ages was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S just last month. For more details about the title, check out our review. Also check out the fact that DOOM: The Dark Ages has been the biggest game launch in id Software’s history, garnering more than 3 million players across the different platforms. Compared to the previous title – DOOM Eternal – DOOM: The Dark Ages hit the 3 million players milestone seven times faster.

DOOM: The Dark Ages Update 1 Patch Notes:

Improvements and Adjustments

• Adjusted audio mix so music and sound effects are more balanced at Default levels (For best results we recommend you reset audio settings to Default)
• Reduced the amount of time health drops remain active during Atlan missions
• Sprint VFX are now disabled for auto-sprint

Atlan

• (*PT) Reduced how long health drops linger in the world when in the Atlan
• (*PT) Updated the Atlan combo system so that after using a Finisher, the player can still use the previous one
• ㄴPlayers were paying too much to use a Finisher, which led to holding on for the most powerful attacks and then cashing out. This creates a more dynamic combat experience that rewards building up multiple Finishers for extended combos and more strategic decision-making

Dragon

• Dragon combat experience has been updated to allow players to move more swiftly through the experience
• ㄴMost enemies faced when on the Dragon will now only fire Hell Surge projectiles, allowing for more opportunities to empower the Autocannon
• ㄴThe Empowered state for the Dragon’s Autocannon now lasts longer
• ㄴ(*PT) Empowered shots from the Dragon’s Autocannon after a perfect dodge will go through projectile shields

Combat Encounter Updates

Village of Khalim

• Courtyard Encounter
• ㄴAdditional Imps added Two Imp Stalkers added
• Beach Encounter
• ㄴAdded Imps and additional Pinky Rider to fight
• ㄴMusic state adjustments

Hebeth

• Gore Deck Encounter (Leader Intro)
• ㄴAdded maintains for Pinky Rider Leader support

Sentinel Barracks

• Tomb Arena Encounter
• ㄴNightmare Imp added
• ㄴStone Imp wave added
• Exterior Burning Tree Encounter
• ㄴHell Knight maintain added
• ㄴLost Souls Added
• ㄴStone Imps added
• Vagary Into
• ㄴAdded Mancubus maintain

Holy City of Aratum

• Tutorial
• ㄴReduced number of Hell Tanks on pillar to 3
• ㄴHell Tank 1 shoots only Up/Down Hourglass projectile variant
• ㄴHell Tank 2 shoots only Left/Right Hourglass projectile variant
• ㄴHell Tank 3 shoots only Up/Down Hourglass projectile variant
• General
• ㄴDoubled the length of time the Empowered shot is active
• City Sandbox
• ㄴRemoved Titan Sentry immediately after Hell Carrier exit
• Final Arena
• ㄴMancubus maintain added for Vagary
• ㄴChaingunner Soldiers added

Siege – Part 1

• Vagary Encounters
• ㄴAdded 2 Hell Knights and small Imp maintain for Trenches Vagary
• ㄴAdded 2 Hell Knights and small Imp maintain to River Shore Vagary encounter
• ㄴAdded Imp Stalker and small Imp maintain in Canyon Vagary Encounter

Siege – Part 2

• Hangar Final Encounter
• ㄴAI spawn placement adjustments
• ㄴPickup placement adjustments
• ㄴAdded small Hell Knight maintain
• ㄴAdded Nightmare Imp
• ㄴAdded Arachnatron support for Battle Knight

Resurrection

• Dragon Flight to Maykr Ship
• ㄴMusic adjustment from ambient to light music state

Bug Fixes – All Platforms

Achievements

• Resolved an issue in which some users could not unlock the Berserker Achievement/Trophy upon obtaining the necessary upgrades. This should resolve retroactively for affected users

Audio

• Fixed an issue with music potentially pausing when transitioning between levels
• Addressed an issue in which VO was getting cut off during ending cinematic for The Holy City of Aratum

Ultra-Nightmare

• Difficulty Settings – adjusted the modified (M*) tag to persist after reverting to Default Settings in Ultra-Nightmare
• Fixed an issue in which the Death Marker did not display the correct enemy name when killed by an armored Leader or Enforcer
• Addressed the Death Marker so it no longer displays “???” when the player is killed by the ground spike AoE attack from any Cyberdemon variant
• Updated the Death Marker so the Mancubus (who fires acid hazards) name now displays correctly

Cinematics

• Fixed an issue in which the sound effects were not consistently playing during the interstitial sequences in The Old One boss fight
• Fixed an issue with music potentially dropping out during cinematics
• Addressed issues with subtitle timings for multiple languages

Crashes

• Fixed rare crash after destroying the gore portal in Siege – Part 1

Gameplay

• Resolved an issue in which the Shredder could lose functionality after performing an execute move
• Addressed a bug where the Shield Saw could lose functionality after being caught, then melee attacking a dazed enemy
• Fixed an issue with upgrade functionality not working when re-equipping a shield rune after maxing out the upgrades

Menus

• Fixed an issue in which some players were unable to select and enter The Holy City of Aratum via the level select menu
• The Battle Knight codex is now obtainable and will appear in the Codex menu
• Addressed issues in which the Chapter Selection text and the Command Bar UI element would flicker
• Fixed an issue encountered by some players where Campaign map completion was reset to 25% after the previous update
• Resolved an issue in which players could skip to future levels by highlighting them in the Level Selection menu
• The Arachnotron Codex page now appears consistently within the Dossier
• Addressed an issue in which the “Field Of View” menu slider could lose functionality after cutscenes or Shield bashing through a wall
• Resolved issues in which opening/closing the Dossier and reloading Checkpoints could cause the Shredder Barbed upgrade to unequip itself and the Pincushion and Ricochet upgrades would be equipped simultaneously
• Menus – the (M*) marker is now present on Campaign Save Files that have been modified

Rendering

• Added an additional control to customize image contrast when using HDR to fix issues where the image appeared washed out for some users

It’s seemingly become id’s biggest launch in history, as it reached this total seven times faster than DOOM Eternal in 2020. The latter sold three million digital copies in its first month, according to SuperData. Since The Dark Ages is available on Game Pass, it’s likely to have contributed many players.

Even compared to peak concurrent Steam players, Eternal surges ahead, reaching nearly 105,000 compared to The Dark Ages’ 30,232. We’ll need to wait for more sales data, but at least in the UK, the latter topped physical charts for the week ending May 17th.

Check out our review for DOOM: The Dark Ages here, where we gave it a nine out of ten. You can also watch the accolades trailer for other critics’ thoughts. In June, it will receive a free update, adding Path Tracing and DLSS Ray Reconstruction support on PC.

Joining DOOM: The Dark Ages atop the charts is fellow new release The Precinct. Fallen Tree Games and Kwalee’s old-school GTA-inspired action-adventure title occupies the second place in the charts. Meanwhile, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sits in eighth place, down from the top spot last week, while Assassin’s Creed Shadows comes in at No. 6, slipping down from fourth place last week. 

Interestingly, ten years on from its original release, The Witcher 3 takes the No. 7 spot in the charts with its GOTY Edition, while fellow old horse Grand Theft Auto 5 also continues to figure in the charts, sitting in fifth place. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, meanwhile, comes in at No. 10.

You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending May 17 below.